post

12 YEARS A SLAVE Wins TIFF Audience Award

by Posted in Festival News
 

Winning at the highly watched, well-hyped Toronto International Film Festival can do wonderful things for a career, and speaks plenty about future Oscar nominations. At TIFF, the festival’s films are voted on by an audience instead of a Jury. Recent films given the People’s Choice Award  include Slumdog Millionaire, The King’s Speech and Argo.

That bodes well for 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen and his actors and crew, a well put together ensemble that numbers Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northrup, the protagonist and author of the memoir that 12 Years a Slave is based on. Co-starring in the film, Michael Fassbender is the cruel plantation owner Edwin Epps who oversees Northrup after purchasing him off  William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch), a Baptist preacher and slave owner. Brad Pitt, Quvenzhané Wallis, Paul Giamatti and other stars also lend their talents to this coherent ensemble. With the stake so high in talent, it’s no wonder the film has received acclaim from all of its viewers.

Couple great source material and superb with striking cinematography by Sean Bobbitt, wonderful writing by John Ridley, and superb direction by Steve McQueen, and it’s little wonder that 12 Years a Slave did take the cake at TIFF this year.  In an exploration of slavery that damns nearly every white character on screen while consistently reaffirming Northrup’s existent humanity, even under duress,, McQueen has set himself and his cast up well for Oscar season. Many Oscar tipsters have even mentioned that McQueen, the London-born Holland resident, could end up being the first a black director to win Best Director at the Academy Awards.
 
Before TIFF, 12 Years a Slave premiered as a sneak peak in the Telluride Film Festival,and has since been confirmed for the 2013 BFI London Film Festival as well. It’ll get commercial release by Fox Searchlight Pictures and Regency Enterprises on October 18, 2013. Given the film’s popularity with critics, we can be sure to expect more film festival showings and even more acclaim for 12 Years a Slave and its cast in the coming months.  To see a trailer for this wonderful drama, click here. 

12 Years a Slave is directed by Steve McQueen and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti, Quvenzhane Wallis, Sarah Paulson, Paul Dano, Scoot McNairy, Garrett Dillahunt, Alfre Woodard, Dwight Henry, and Michael K. Williams. It hits theaters on October 18.

post

New OLDBOY Trailer Gets Greenbanded

by Posted in Trailers

In drafting my fall preview, I put Spike Lee‘s Oldboy at number nine on my list of most anticipated films so while I’m all for more marketing, I’m going to hold off on taking a lookie at this one. For those of you not bought in yet, take a look and see if this looks like something down your alley. Remaking the acclaimed Korean film from director Chan Wook-Park, this is sure to offer the viscus-smattered thrills that some of us crave and some of us cower from. Which will you be?

“Obsessed with vengeance,” the synopsis read, “a man sets out to find out why he was kidnapped and locked up into solitary confinement for 20 years without reason.” If you haven’t checked out the first trailer, you can watch it here but be aware that it, unlike this newest one, is not safe for work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWohFDMSMh8

Oldboy is directed by Spike Lee and stars Josh Brolin, Samuel L Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen and Michael Imperioli. It hits theaters on October 25.

Follow Silver Screen Riot on Facebook
Follow Silver Screen Riot on Twitter

post

Out in Theaters: INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2

by Posted in Reviews

Insidious: Chapter 2″
Directed by James Wan
Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Steve Coulter
Horror, Thriller
105 Mins
PG-13

 

 

Back in grade school, we learn about the five paragraph essay. It starts with an intriguing hook to invite readers into the text. Following from the content of the opening segment, we’re supposed to know what to expect for the remainder of the work. We then have three body paragraphs basically giving some meat to the text before we wrap it all up with a conclusion that summarizes events while making some overarching statement tying together the various strands of the piece. Be it a subjective opinion or an objective truth, a paper has to say something or else, what’s the point? A similar blueprint can be expected for film. Surely there are cases that call for deviation but when you fail to understand the most basic structure of story, there is no hope for transcendence nor is there any respite from piss poor narrative decisions. This is the case with Insidious: Chapter 2 – a half-witted, inconsistent mess of a horror sequel.

 

While the first installation (to what is sure to be at least a three chapter affair) started as a somber and moody horror-thriller and deteriorated piece-by-piece, this followup starts its engines in the rubble of that fallout. Deserting any modicum of first act set-up, things start going bump in the night right from the get-go. No respite is granted for those of us who want our psychology tinkered with. This is a full-blown pounding sesh. Doors slam themselves, baby monitors creak splintered whispers, pianos warble themselves out of key and there’s no scarcity of screaming, gasping, and jaw-dangling from those onscreen. Us in the audience however are cold from disinterest and disengagement.

As such, the first forty-five minutes of the film are purely awful – a hodgepodge of horror movie staples that wore themselves thin back in the 80s but somehow continue as if every horror audience has amnesia. Absent of a mere moment of breathlessness, this first act is also staggeringly unoriginal. Even in a market dominated by micro-budget horrors piggybacking on each other’s ideas, the recycled-ness feels built right into its DNA. There is not a dose of originality sewn into the framework, making the experience first-and-foremost an exercise in patience through repetition and wristwatch-checking.

Worst of all is the cold open which finds the audience throttled back thirty-odd years to the genesis of the body-haunting at the forefront of the series. A preteen Josh Lambert meets a young Elise (Lindsay Seim) and what follows is seven minutes of unadulterated crud withSeim’s flat-lined delivery and over-the-top gesturing coming across as a collection to make up a well-earned Razzie reel.

But Seim is not the only one dropping the ball as performances pretty much across the board are broadly laughable, save for a rakish Patrick Wilson who channels a bit of Jack Nicholson‘s Jack Torrence to amusing effect. Rose Byrne adopts the same mouth-agape, wide-eyed approach to terrified acting she harnessed in the first installment and its just as ineffective this time around. Between these two leads exists a slack-lined, tread-worn slump of charisma so it’s no wonder that they rarely share the screen together. I’d buy their romance in a Levi ad and that’s pretty much it.

Odd couple, Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson make desperate plays for comic relief but their ill-timed jokes just add to the sloppy pileup. They may muster a laugh or two but those chuckles  only serves as admissible evidence of the tonal inconsistency ablaze throughout the film. In keeping with tradition, Lin Shaye feels out of place in any horror film and her cheery grandma facade just isn’t in keeping with the spooky feel Wan aims for. With so many miscalculations, it’s no wonder that he misses with such frequency here.

Everything exists either in shadow or bright spotlight with the cinematography from John R. Leonetti doing a dangerously sloppy job at making anything feel the least bit real. Having just served as DP on The Conjuring, which is a superior film in every way imaginable, the inconsistencies in quality are nothing less than confusing and easily damnable. In fact, Wan should be ashamed of the back-peddling he’s displayed here as this is a far cry from the game-changing part he played in The Conjuring.

Scathing review aside, there are moments where the film finds its footing and manages to put the chill back into the air. Wilson certainly gives it his all and is easily the most fun part of the ride. There are moments in the middle where the narrative pulls itself from the mire and seems like it actually may turn into a satisfying spookfest. In the end though, it is all for naught and adds up to nothing but a “to be continued…”Wan may have learned from the greatest mistakes of the first installment but it’s just a shame that he had to make a whole new set of mistakes.

Doused with easy scare tactics and devoid of a story all of it’s own, Insidious 2 borderson being  offensively lame at times. But perhaps its gravest crime is its unwillingness to stand alone outside the pack. As a chapter in the mildewed pages of a novel, it reads fine. But this is no novel. Nor is it Lord of the Rings. Sequel or not, movies are charged with standing by themselves and Wan is smugly overconfident in assuming audiences will be hungry for more after such a scarcely entertaining film.

As a solitary feature, without what comes before it and will come next, Insidious 2 is wildly incomplete, capped off with more holes than a back country freeway sign in Alabama. When it comes down to it, Insidious: Chapter 2 has a terrible beginning and a terrible end, making it in a sense, a shit-sandwich.

D+

 

post

Out in Theaters: INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2

by Posted in Out in Theaters 1 Comment

Insidious: Chapter 2″
Directed by James Wan
Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Steve Coulter
Horror, Thriller
105 Mins
PG-13

Back in grade school, we learn about the five paragraph essay. It starts with an intriguing hook to invite readers into the text. Following from the content of the opening segment, we’re supposed to know what to expect for the remainder of the work. We then have three body paragraphs basically giving some meat to the text before we wrap it all up with a conclusion that summarizes events while making some overarching statement tying together the various strands of the piece. Be it a subjective opinion or an objective truth, a paper has to say something or else, what’s the point? A similar blueprint can be expected for film. Surely there are cases that call for deviation but when you fail to understand the most basic structure of story, there is no hope for transcendence nor is there any respite from piss poor narrative decisions. This is the case with Insidious: Chapter 2 – a half-witted, inconsistent mess of a horror sequel.

While the first installation (to what is sure to be at least a three chapter affair) started as a somber and moody horror-thriller and deteriorated piece-by-piece, this followup starts its engines in the rubble of that fallout. Deserting any modicum of first act set-up, things start going bump in the night right from the get-go. No respite is granted for those of us who want our psychology tinkered with. This is a full-blown pounding sesh. Doors slam themselves, baby monitors creak splintered whispers, pianos warble themselves out of key and there’s no scarcity of screaming, gasping, and jaw-dangling from those onscreen. Us in the audience however are cold from disinterest and disengagement.

As such, the first forty-five minutes of the film are purely awful – a hodgepodge of horror movie staples that wore themselves thin back in the 80s but somehow continue as if every horror audience has amnesia. Absent of a mere moment of breathlessness, this first act is also staggeringly unoriginal. Even in a market dominated by micro-budget horrors piggybacking on each other’s ideas, the recycled-ness feels built right into its DNA. There is not a dose of originality sewn into the framework, making the experience first-and-foremost an exercise in patience through repetition and wristwatch-checking.

Worst of all is the cold open which finds the audience throttled back thirty-odd years to the genesis of the body-haunting at the forefront of the series. A preteen Josh Lambert meets a young Elise (Lindsay Seim) and what follows is seven minutes of unadulterated crud withSeim’s flat-lined delivery and over-the-top gesturing coming across as a collection to make up a well-earned Razzie reel.

But Seim is not the only one dropping the ball as performances pretty much across the board are broadly laughable, save for a rakish Patrick Wilson who channels a bit of Jack Nicholson‘s Jack Torrence to amusing effect. Rose Byrne adopts the same mouth-agape, wide-eyed approach to terrified acting she harnessed in the first installment and its just as ineffective this time around. Between these two leads exists a slack-lined, tread-worn slump of charisma so it’s no wonder that they rarely share the screen together. I’d buy their romance in a Levi ad and that’s pretty much it.

Odd couple, Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson make desperate plays for comic relief but their ill-timed jokes just add to the sloppy pileup. They may muster a laugh or two but those chuckles  only serves as admissible evidence of the tonal inconsistency ablaze throughout the film. In keeping with tradition, Lin Shaye feels out of place in any horror film and her cheery grandma facade just isn’t in keeping with the spooky feel Wan aims for. With so many miscalculations, it’s no wonder that he misses with such frequency here.

Everything exists either in shadow or bright spotlight with the cinematography from John R. Leonetti doing a dangerously sloppy job at making anything feel the least bit real. Having just served as DP on The Conjuring, which is a superior film in every way imaginable, the inconsistencies in quality are nothing less than confusing and easily damnable. In fact, Wan should be ashamed of the back-peddling he’s displayed here as this is a far cry from the game-changing part he played in The Conjuring.

Scathing review aside, there are moments where the film finds its footing and manages to put the chill back into the air. Wilson certainly gives it his all and is easily the most fun part of the ride. There are moments in the middle where the narrative pulls itself from the mire and seems like it actually may turn into a satisfying spookfest. In the end though, it is all for naught and adds up to nothing but a “to be continued…”Wan may have learned from the greatest mistakes of the first installment but it’s just a shame that he had to make a whole new set of mistakes.

Doused with easy scare tactics and devoid of a story all of it’s own, Insidious 2 borders on beingoffensively lame at times. But perhaps its gravest crime is its unwillingness to stand alone outside the pack. As a chapter in the mildewed pages of a novel, it reads fine. But this is no novel. Nor is it Lord of the Rings. Sequel or not, movies are charged with standing by themselves and Wan is smugly overconfident in assuming audiences will be hungry for more after such a scarcely entertaining film.

As a solitary feature, without what comes before it and will come next, Insidious 2 is wildly incomplete, capped off with more holes than a back country freeway sign in Alabama. When it comes down to it, Insidious: Chapter 2 has a terrible beginning and a terrible end, making it in a sense, a shit-sandwich.

D+

post

Trailer and Poster for Jason Vs. Franco Actioner HOMEFRONT

by Posted in Trailers

Adapted from Chuck Logan‘s bestselling book, Homefront pits retired DEA agent Jason Statham against a meth-cooking James Franco.While it’s intriguing to see Franco filling the villain’s shoes, the project looks like just another Statham vehicle to punch people and shoot things. It certainly doesn’t help that Sylvester Stallone is responsible for the screen adaptation.

For some reason I can’t make two cents of, Statham preserves his English accent for the role of an American agent (as he does in nearly every film he is ever in). In fact, I can’t think of a single time the man has dropped the accent. Perhaps it has become too entrenched a part of his signature delivery but it’s easy to see that Statham should try on something new considering that none of his films have debuted at a number one spot since 2003’s The Italian Job (where he was not even near the top billing).

Directed by Gary Fleder (The Express), the film will see a November 27 release. It co-stars Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth and Frank Grillo.

Follow Silver Screen Riot on Facebook
Follow Silver Screen Riot on Twitter

Homefront is directed by Gary Fleder and stars Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth and Frank Grillo. It opens on November 27, 2013.

post

AMC Kills THE KILLING…Again

by Posted in Television

After a gripping cliffhanger of a season finale, AMC has gone ahead and axed The Killing for a second time. Originally snuffed out after season two and then revitalized thanks to a partnership with Netflix, The Killing had always struggled to find its footing in a market over-saturated with police drama. But those who watched it faithfully will tell you that there was something deeper and darker about this show that made it stand out from the crowd, not to mention pith perfect chemistry between leads Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman. 

AMC originally canceled the series last year after season two. Although the show started off a success, many viewers left after leaving betrayed by the conclusion to the first season which didn’t wrap things up like they expected. Personally, I thought it was a great, inventive move but ultimately, the series did itself in. Although season three was heralded by fans and critics, the numbers just weren’t there and consistent low ratings led to the decision to pull the plug to allow them to produce new material. In light of AMC’s recent decision to move ahead on Breaking Bad spinoff, Better Call Saul, it seems that the wake of Walter White can now add The Killing to his body count.

In a statement addressing their decision to not renew the much-loved show for a fourth season, AMC released the follow: “We have made the difficult decision not to move forward with a fourth season of The Killing. We want to thank our great partners at Fox Television Studios, creator Veena Sud, an extraordinary cast and the dedicated fans who watched.”

I will certainly be amongst those mourning the loss of The Killing. This fact is certainly not aided by the fact that season three ended with a major character turn that would have made for a fantastic next season. I guess this is the issue of getting too invested in tv shows. Like Deadwood and countless others before it, we will now never know the fate of Linden and Holder.

post

Saul Gets His Own BREAKING BAD SPINOFF With BETTER CALL SAUL

by Posted in Television

For months, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan has been spouting the idea of a spinoff for one of the show’s most beloved characters Saul Goodman. Today, it seems that that notion has become reality.

Better Call Saul will center on Bob Odenkirk‘s conniving, pun-ladden lawyer Saul Goodman and will run on AMC. Following a licensing agreement between AMC and Breaking Bad producer Sony Pictures TV, Better Call Saul is now officially green-lit. The show will run as an one-hour prequel to “focus on the evolution of the Goodman character before he ever became Walter White’s lawyer.”

Considering that Saul is much more of a light-hearted character (especially before his acquainting with Walter “Heisenberg” White), don’t expect the show to be the same trip down the rabbit hole that Breaking Bad was. While it won’t quite fill the massive gap that Breaking Bad will leave upon its departure in a mere three weeks time, it will be interesting to see Odenkirk’s back story and may just cushion the blow a touch.

At this point, it’s unknown if Saul will even live through the events of Breaking Bad. Wouldn’t it be interesting if he did indeed perish? Surely would give this prequel show a certain twist. While Walter White and Jesse most definitely wouldn’t be showing up for this spinoff, I would be willing to put my money on the fact that Jonathan Bank‘s Mike would be returning at some point.

 Watch the following round up of some of Saul’s best one-liners to get you pumped for the spinoff.

Follow Silver Screen Riot on Facebook
Follow Silver Screen Riot on Twitter

 

post

THE GRANDMASTER Is Lost in Translation

by Posted in Film Editorials

Culture is a thing worthy of celebration, not a placeholder. It’s a proud artifact of a civilization that distinguishes its unique place in the world while offering a respectful homage to the past. In large part, world cinema is dictated by Hollywood but the cross-pollination taking place here crosses a line in the sand, using cultural differences as a means to gut and sanitize a film that was once called great. This Americanized cut clearly is not.

Foreign films like Amelie aim to invite us into a distinctly different world that works not in spite of their cultural inconsistencies with our more familiar Hollywood fare but because of them. Amelie wasn’t hacked down, re-spliced and formatted to fit an American audience ideal of three-act basics. It was perfect just the way it was.

Likewise, Alfonso Cuaron‘s Y Tu Mamá También didn’t bandage its decadent carnal acts. It wore its overtly sexualized heart on its sleeve, regardless of the puritan American mainstream who just so happened to gulp it up. We didn’t need a redux where everything just so happens to work out in the end because we didn’t need it. Similarly, Guillermo del Toro‘s bleak Pan’s Labyrinth wasn’t sterilized with a storybook ending. No, we couldn’t wash the gritty, greasy afterbirth nightmares we get from 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days out of our brains and yet it’s a film that would have been laughed right out of the studio system. It works because it showed us something different, something distinctly non-American.

This brings us to The Grandmaster, a film referred to by the droves who saw it open at the Berlin International Film Festival as a “masterpiece.” I can tell you frankly, what I saw was no masterpiece. The narrative shifts felt wooden, character movement is frantic and often ungrounded and an attempt to simplify two life stories into one 108-minute film reaches too far. There are moments of grandeur, some stunning camera work and often interesting focal points for the masterful kung-fu battles splayed throughout the film but these are overshadowed by a disjointed narrative and increasing sense of something missing. The only rational conclusion is that in hopping from one continent to another, something has been lost in translation.

 

Produced over the course of three years (filming itself dictating almost two years), director Wong Kar-wai admits that he himself took a scissor to the original 130 minute cut to make it more “Americanized.” Although he stands behind the select-copy-deleting of entire portions of his film, we have to wonder what qualifies a Hong Kong native as an arbiter for what works best for an American audience. Over at The Huffington Post, Wai had a chance to speak out and express his stamp of approval on this US cut of the film:

“As a filmmaker, let me say that the luxury of creating a new cut for U.S. audiences was the opportunity to reshape it into something different than what I began with — a chance one doesn’t always get as a director and an undertaking much more meaningful than simply making something shorter or longer.”

Here, Kar-wai admits how his reshaping impacts the final result in far more ways than run-time. What he fails to realize is just how much he has castrated his film by attempting to perfect it for an audience that he doesn’t understand.

For a parallel from the past on how edits can entirely change the meaning of a film, take for example Ridley Scott‘s Blade Runner. Now often called a “sci-fi masterpiece,” Scott’s original vision was buried under a studio-ordered voice-over ending that made the conclusion seem more suitable and close-booked than the vaguely ambiguous and much more thought-provoking original cut. Thankfully, that edit was largely redacted and Scott’s far superior vision was able to shine through to his audiences via his much-celebrated Director’s Cut. What Blade Runner proves is that even a fragment as short as a minute can change the entire course of a film. Accordingly, it is without question that a re-cut removing a whole 22 minutes can morph a masterpiece into just another lukewarm kung-fu film.

 

Another flagrant case of authorial manipulation is Anthony Burgess‘s fiery novel A Clockwork Orange. In the American version of the novel, the last chapter was excised entirely – cut clean from the book and swept away. For those unfamiliar with the novel, it involves a young, rapey ruffian, Alex, who is institutionalized in experimental hopes of ridding him of his ultra-violent ways (involving methods too extreme even for the US government). Much lo and behold, after all of this course-correction, Alex eventually returns to a life of debauchery and evil doing. This is where the American-version of the book and the still fantastic Stanley Kubrick film end.

With this conclusion, we’re meant to take away that you can’t change a bird’s feathers permanently just by painting them a different color. We get it. But the original novel jumps forward a ways into the future where Alex just suddenly grows out of being such a mean-spirited douche, entirely changing the message so precisely lain into the framework of the story. It says, “Change comes only from within, never from an outside source forcing it upon you.” But those conniving publishers thought this was too much flip-flopping for an American audience to comprehend and instead reshaped the message and shifted the entire cultural zeitgeist revolving around this great work of art.

Returning to The Grandmaster, even though having the approval of director Kar-wai frames the whole re-editing process in a less authoritarian light than what took place in Scott and Burgess’s work, it is still a manipulation of vision for the percieved sake of an audience. An audience he obviously fails to understand. Like George Lucas returning to our beloved Star Wars trilogy (you know which one I’m referring to) and making Greedo shoot first, little changes make a big difference.

I wish that I had indeed seen the original cut of the film as I feel like I could fairly access it on different terms if that was the case, but as is, The Grandmaster feels doggedly incomplete. It’s packed with some truly stunning cinematography and a bulk of inspired directorial choices but is cut down by the hand that feeds it, resulting in a strange cross-cultural-hybrid nearly as confused as it is confusing.

post

Ten Movies to Look Out for in Fall 2013

by Posted in Lists
Fall is the time of year when the leaves change color, the air gets a distinct crispness and the movies all of a sudden get really good. While the year up to this point has certainly had some gems, it’s been very hit or miss. With the stocked platter of promising films showing up this back-loaded fall season, I have a feeling that only one or two in current top ten will make it past the end of the year’s chopping block. I’m only confident that one, Before Midnight, will make it to the final scoreboard on my Top Ten List.

As for this fall, there is a massive selection for all film-going audiences with blockbusters like Thor: The Dark World, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – sure to be the colon-sporting trio busting the doors off the season’s box-office records – alongside fare more intended for the Oscar-conscious.

It’s nearly impossible to make a list out of so many strong contenders but, for the love of the internet, a list must be crafted, framed in the bones of the defeated. Amongst those that I am anticipating but just didn’t make the cut are a wealth of films based on true stories: Ron Howard‘s F1 racing biopic Rush couldn’t be further from Steve McQueen‘s story of a free black man forced back into slavery, Twelve Years a Slave, but looks equally intriguing. The true story of Walt Disney, here played by Tom Hanks, comes to light in Saving Mr. Banks but concern over how watered down the Disney-production will be keeps it from mounting the tippy-tops of my anticipation charts. Also in the true life department is the Somalian pirate hijacking film, also starring Hanks, Captain Phillips from director Paul Greengrass, alongside Dallas Buyers Club starring Matthew McConaughey as a patient battling for fair prescription-drugs for HIV-positive patients and the Benedict Cumberbatch-starring The Fifth Estate about the rise and fall of Julian Asange.

 

Also on that list are a few guilty pleasures. The latest iteration of the iconic American CIA operative created by Tom Clancy in Jack Ryan, now played by Chris Pine, has the potential to launch either an intellectual franchise or could be a big old dud. Similarly, Anchorman 2 is positioned to top the laugh charts but this one-liner built may just miss the ingredient that made the first so unforgettable. Frozen hopes to heat up Disney’s latest streak of animated winners while putting a nail in the coffin of the golden era of Pixar but also stands the chance to be as vanilla as Despicable Me 2. Both The Past and August: Osage County look like they could be winners… or could be heavily stepped in melodrama. We shall see.

Jason Reitman‘s latest, Labor Day, is poised to be a good, if not great film, as is Alexander Payne‘s Nebraska. Out of the Furnace has an all-star cast (C. Bale, C. Affleck, Z. Saldana, W. Harrelson, F. Whitaker) and looks to either be quite a show or quite a disappointmentwhile Spike Jonze‘s Her looks pretty much phenomenal already (and missed the list by a hair).

Now with those out of the way, let’s get down to the final ten.

10. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Ben Stiller is a funny little man who looks like he’s trying to break the mold. Equal parts comedy, sci-fi, adventure and drama, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty looks enigmatic in all the right ways. The first trailer was almost completely devoid of dialogue but set us up for a film that is, in the very least, beautifully crafted and impeachable realized.

The story synopsis is as follows: “An office worker who lives inside fantasy worlds where he gets to live an adventurous life while romancing his co-worker sets off a global journey to fix things when both of their jobs are threatened.”

With comedy gold like Tropic Thunder, Cable Guy and Zoolander already under his directorial belt, Stiller has already proven that he’s got a knack for comedy. Whether that extends into something more likely to be considered Oscar territory is up for interpretation but is a debate that will surely be bubbling come the release of this film.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is directed by and starring Ben Stiller, it also features Kristen Wiig, Sean Penn, Adam Scott, and Patton Oswalt. It opens Christmas Day, 2013.

9. Oldboy

 

With a tendency to rock the boat, Spike Lee is a definitively hit-of-miss talent. But the combination of a talented cast, stellar art direction, and a nifty story of revenge per Korean filmmaker Chan Wook-Park, this looks to add up to a genuine thrill ride packing some real visceral hits. In the fall season, we need a well measured dose of ultra-violence and Oldboy looks to deliver for those of us craving the goods.

“Obsessed with vengeance,” the synopsis read, “a man sets out to find out why he was kidnapped and locked up into solitary confinement for 20 years without reason.” If you haven’t checked out the trailer, give it a look here but be aware that it’s NSFW.

Oldboy is directed by Spike Lee and stars Josh Brolin, Samuel L Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen and Michael Imperioli. It hits theaters on October 25.

8. Foxcatcher

 

Bennett Miller‘s Foxcatcher has been surprisingly light on marketing. We got a glimpse of Steve Carrell as a murdering psychopath but no trailer has yet seen the light of day. Having just set a mid-December release date for the film, Sony Pictures Classics really has to turn on the machine to start churning up interest for the masses. Us in the industry though know that Miller (Moneyball) is a name to look out for, especially backed by a killer cast that features Carrell,Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Michael Hall.

The description is brief but powerful, setting this one up as a film that could truly be great (especially with Miller’s nuanced directing): “The story of Olympic Wrestling Champion Mark Schultz and how paranoid schizophrenic John duPont killed his brother, Olympic Champion Dave Schultz. ” 
 
 Foxcatcher is directed by Bennett Miller and stars Channing Tatum, Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, and Anthony Michael Hall. It hits theaters December 13.

7. Inside Llewyn Davis

 

When the Coen Bros make a film, you watch it. Now it doesn’t always end up being the genre-blending piece of cinema you were hoping for but the effort is always there. Luckily, response for their latest, Inside Llewyn Davis, has been overwhelmingly positive, with many already ranking it amongst their best works.

I want to remain optimistic without getting myself too hyped for the film as I was not nearly as won over by True Grit as many others and thought A Serious Man was overwrought in metaphors to the point of not really mattering.

Following Oscar Issaac as the titular character, the story follows “a week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961.” If you’re not sold yet, check out the first and second trailers here.

Inside Llewyn Davis is directed by the Joel and Ethan Coen and stars Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake, F. Murray Abraham, and Garrett Hedlund. It hits limited theaters on December 6 and goes wide on December 20.

6. The Monuments Men

What do George Clooney, George Clooney, and George Clooney have in common? They (he) wrote, directed and starred in The Monuments Men. Remember, Clooney is working off a bit of a gilded track record with his previous endeavors The Ides of March and Good Night and Good Luck both slipping away as critical darlings.

This time Clooney has recruited an all-star cast to round out this WWII adventure/heist/drama film that some are comparing to Ocean’s Eleven with Nazis. Nuff said.

The boiled down idea of the film? “In a race against time, a crew of art historians and museum curators unite to recover renowned works of art stolen by Nazis before Hitler destroys them.”

Clooney and company surprised audiences with the release of the first trailer as it featured a lot more comedy than we were expecting. In light of that, I believe the lightish hue makes the film even more worthy of anticipation.

The Monuments Men is written by, starring and directed by George Clooney. It also stars Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville and John Goodman. It hits theaters in the thick of Oscar season on December 18.

5. The Counselor

 

Mr. Ridley Scott,what a big question mark you’ve become. The man responsible for genre-altering cinema like Alien, Blade Runner and even Gladiator has since seemed descended into a black hole of talent. Although his most recent work on Prometheus seemed to signal a return to form, his entire 2000-2010 platter was the definition of lackluster.

 The Counselor though looks to turn the ship around once and for all. With Cormac McCarthy penning the original script and a killer cast, backed by a madcap trailer, this looks like one that could score big for Scott’s shot at nabbing some Oscar nominations after a long absence from the ceremony.

The short and sweet of it: “A lawyer finds himself in over his head when he gets involved in drug trafficking.”

The Counselor is directed by Ridley Scott, written by Cormac McCartney and stars Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. It hits theaters October 25.

4. All is Lost

 

Robert Redford‘s one man army is exactly the type of bold direction that the industry needs. With J.C. Chandor behind the camera and only Redford in front of it, this is a definitively stripped down film, exactly the turn we crave in a film climate overstuffed with CGI, subplots and hapless romance.

Tracking a man sailing on his own, slowly being won over by nature, All is Lost has already been called a powerhouse after it’s debut in Cannes. The synopsis: “After a collision with a shipping container at sea, a resourceful sailor finds himself, despite all efforts to the contrary, staring his mortality in the face.” The trailer only serves to solidify the promised intensity. With a release date a little over a month away (and a screening even sooner), I can’t wait to see this.

All is Lost is directed by J.C. Chandorand stars Robert Redford. It hits theaters on October 18.

3. Gravity

 

From magical worlds to dystopian futures to the blackness of space, Alfonso follows up his last masterpiece with the story of “a medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space.”

What was once my most anticipated film of the entire year, Gravity has taken a bit of a slip after the curtain was lifted and we got a first look at the trailer. Don’t get me wrong, the trailer displayed exactly the brand of filmmaking prowess from Alfronso Cuaron that made me get so initially excited for the movie. It also confirmed that Sandra Bullock is the star of it, a fact I kept trying to overlook as my anticipation levels rose.

The simple one-and-two of it is that I just find Bullock annoying. It’s just hard to keep a film at that top slot when the star of the feature is essentially guaranteed to be at best, not annoying, and at worst, super annoying. Hopefully Cuaron’s distinct single-shot camera work draws us away from the inadequacies of the actress and creates a sense of wonder we haven’t yet experienced at the movies.

To his credit, Cuaron seems like a guy who knows exactly what he’s doing so I guess he must have some trick up his sleeve in employing Bullock over a host of rival actresses chomping at the bit to work with the visionary director. For now, we can only cross our fingers and hope that this delivers as massively as I’m hoping it will. Though it will debut at TIFF in a few short weeks, it arrives in theaters in pretty much a month flat.

Gravity is directed by Alfonso Cuaron and stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. It will fall into theaters on October 4.

2. The Wolf of Wall Street

 

Leo and Scorsese are back at it. The duo responsible for Shutter Island, The Departed, The Aviator and Gangs of New York reteam for their fifth collaboration together. With three of their four films together nominated for Best Picture and The Departed winning – Shutter Island being the massively underrated exception – there is no denying that this combo is a surefire way to set the industry alight. 

Their latest is “based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.” Based on the memoirs penned by Belfort himself, this tale of mile-high corruption comes across a project as dark as it is fun.

The first trailer for the film had a seething sense of life to it, anchored by tasty performances across the board. While Scorsese is essentially guaranteed both a Best Director and Best Picture nod, the question on everyone’s tongue is whether this will finally be the year that Leonardo DiCaprio will walk away with Oscar gold.

The Wolf of Wall Street is directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Leonardo Dicaprio, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey,  Jon Bernthal, Jon Favreau, Kyle Chandler, Jean Dujardin, Rob Reiner and Spike Jonze. It hits theaters November 15.

1. American Hustle

 

The count is in and David O. Russell rises to the top. With an unstoppable track record for getting his actors both nominated and winning Academy Awards left and right, there is no doubt in my mind that American Hustle will feature some of the finest acting in all of 2013. With a knock out cast that includes Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Robert De Niro and Michael Peña this slightly true tale of corruption amongst ABSCAM is sure to tear the house down.

Deftly blending drama and comedy has become a calling card for O. Russell and his latest looks to only accelerate that trend. The trailer, though a touch too revealing for my taste, looked picturesque. From the costume and set design to everyone’s complete embodiment of their characters, this just looks like a great time at the movies.

American Hustle is “the story of a con artist and his partner in crime, who were forced to work with a federal agent to turn the tables on other cons, mobsters, and politicians – namely, the volatile mayor of impoverished Camden, New Jersey. “

American Hustle is directed by David O. Russell and stars Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Robert De Niro, Michael Peña, Louis C.K. and Amy Adams. It opens in limited theaters on December 13 and opens wide on December 25.

__________________________________________________________________________________

That concludes my top ten list for Fall 2013. I’d love to hear your thoughts as well as your own personal top ten lists. Have at it in the comments section below!

 Follow SmartFilm on Facebook.
Follow Smartfilm on Twitter.

post

Out in Theaters: WE'RE THE MILLERS

by Posted in Uncategorised
“We’re The Millers”
Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber
Starring Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Will Poulter, Emma Roberts, Ed Helms, Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, Mark L. Young
Comedy, Crime 
110 Minutes
R

Filler entertainment for sure, We’re the Millers is caught somewhere in between the hard-R, cuss-laden adult comedy and your run-of-the-mill, PG-13 family comedy with a soul. It stokes enough laughs to keep the engine churning for its 110 minute run time but when all is said and done, it’s just another comedy kept buoyant by chuckles with little living behind the curtain, sloppily saddled with a moral message far out of its natural reach. You won’t walk out regretting what you’ve seen but you’ll be hard pressed to remember it by name a year down the line.

 

Proving that he knows how to milk a good laugh, director Rawson Marshall Thurber is no stranger to comedy. Back in 2004, he directed the much revered (at least by this guy and his high school buddies) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. In case you are wondering, yes, that is the movie you’re thinking of. Apparently the world just forgot about the most unnecessarily tacked on post-colon fragment of all time in the whole “A True Understory Story” bit but trust me (and IMDB), it’s part of the name.

While Thurber was the solitary writer behind the laugh riot that was Dodgeball, We’re the Millers has an exorbitant six writers. If writing duties were shared evenly, that calculates to about 18 minutes from each scribe. No wonder the film feels so tonally jarring, rocking back and forth between sweet and sour, shmaltzy and irreverent. When you finally feel like you have a read on Thurber’s voice, it turns on a dime from lewd to sentimental and back again. Like an amusement park ride that spins more than it moves forward, the result is dizzying, disorienting and may make you wanna puke.

Theexalted Dodgeball also had Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and a pre-pariah Lance Armstrong working for it while We’re the Millers rests on the comedic shoulders of Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston. Sudeikis was a pleasant surprise in Horrible Bosses but he’s still something of an unproven talent while Aniston has largely played the same girl next door with boy issues every since her role as Rachel on Friends. She certainly did break character in Horrible Bosses as the pushy sexual deviant boss, which ultimately resulted in one of the biggest breaths of fresh air in her entire career. For some of her onscreen time in this, she captures a similarly charmless aura but, about halfway through, descends to the flippant level we’ve come to expect of her.

And although this isn’t Sudekis’s first rodeo, it is essentially his first go-around as the leading man. As a supporting character, Sudekis thrives with his bohemian dude-isms. He’s that silent bomber that swoops in and steals the laugh but here, he owns the pony show and is happy to try and strike at all the bells and whistles. Even in moments where the film stagnates, he satisfying leads the cast with his easygoing, quip-laden energy and eager beaver physical comedy.

Sudekis plays the role of David Clark, a 30-something burn out drug dealer working for his nerdy-college-buddy-turned-pot-kingpin (Ed Helms). When David gets robbed by a fuzzy-haired pack of hoods, he is enlisted to carry a smidge and a half of pot (read two hundred pounds) over from the dusty lawlessness of Mexico. In an attempt to be inconspicuous, he employs stripper neighbor, Rose (Aniston), apartment twerp/dork/loser/virgin, Kenny (Will Poulter), and hood-rat hobo with an iPhone 5, Casey (Emma Roberts) to impersonate a hapless, all American family on an RV vacation. Naturally, the border guards wouldn’t suspect a pink polo-sporting family to be smuggling tens of millions of dollars worth of sweet, sticky ganja across the heavily guarded US border.

There are moments of stitch-inducing laughs peppered throughout but it’s hard to shake the feeling that this is a minor experience in a minor film. Nonetheless, there are moments that really got a rise out of me, such as an impromptu learning-to-kiss seminar that is gruelingly awkward as well as various asides from Sudekis, spoken or even just mouthed, but two days after watching the film and the effects have already mostly washed off. Regardless of its relative levity and how easy it is to write off, it was a film that I didn’t feel bad snickering at alongside the audience exploding in a cacophony of laughter around me. In terms of the immediate experience of having a good time at the movies, We’re the Millers accomplishes that goal.

What I did have an issue with is the shoehorning in of moral lessons surrounding the troubles of drug dealing. There’s a sort of implied agreement that if you’re going to see a stoner comedy about a sourpatch burnout slinging bags of weed with names like “Fucking Awesome” and “Alaska Thunderfuck” then you don’t really have any moral credo against the illicit substance. We don’t need to be told that drug dealing is bad and, by extension, don’t need to see our hero turn away from it in order to understand that he’s actually a good guy.

 
 
 

There was never a “Cheech and Chong Turn Narcs!” for a reason just as Pineapple Express didn’t end with James Franco and Seth Rogen swearing off the substance forever. It’s an unnecessary turning point for a film that already is trying to stand for the importance of the family. Being a comedy with a little bit of a message is one thing. Being a moral guard of the US War on Drugs is quite another. Had they just stuck by the idea that things are better in twos, or threes, or fours, it could have had enough of a sugarcoat to satisfy the older demographics but instead it tilts too far into preachy, moral guardianship. By the end, two is two too many ethical judgments for this comedy to cram in.

But, let’s not get too down on it. It’s a fun movie right? That’s the point, right? Surely, but it’s also the reason why I won’t be prancing through town singing its praises. I thought the ongoing Scotty P. “You know what I’m sayin'” gag was hilarious, I laughed a lot when Kenny was in the throes of a kiss gangbang and even Jennifer Aniston hit more than she missed (even if she should retire stripping from her resume as soon as possible). But in the end, it’s not much more than throwaway entertainment that’ll see a meager return on its investment, have a quick HBO run and disappear into the same discount bin that Horrible Bosses lingers in today a mere two years after its release.

C+