'For Coloured Girls' - poster

I cannot wait for this one - mainly for the actresses he is using.
For the rest of the posters go here.

The Toronto Factor.

There are so many women up for contention for Best Actress this year, in films that have already been seen. I mean take a look at the list so far:


Annette Bening - 'The Kids Are All Right'
Julianne Moore - 'The Kids Are All Right
Jennifer Lawrence -' Winter's Bone'
Michelle Williams - 'Blue Valentine'
Naomi Watts - 'Fair Game'
Lesley Manville - 'Another Year'
Natalie Portman - 'Black Swan'
Juia Roberts - 'Eat, Pray, Love'
Tilda Swinton - 'I am Love'
Rinko Kikuchi - 'Norwegian Wood'
Noomi Rapace - 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'





And for Supporting:


Lesley Manville - 'Another Year' (could change to lead)
Ruth Sheen - 'Another Year'
Barbara Hershey - 'Black Swan'
Mila Kunis - 'Black Swan'
Jackie Weaver - 'Animal Kingdom'
Marion Cotillard - 'Inception'
Kristen Scott Thomas - 'Nowhere Boy'
Anne Marie Duff - 'Nowhere Boy'
Sissy Spacek - 'Get Low'






Now with Toronto on the horizon, there is a giant pool of possible contenders. This is cause for celebration as in most years, around this time there are only 7 or 8 real contenders for consideration in any one year.

Let's take a look at the women who could, with a good enough performance, could find themselves firmly in the mix for this years awards.

Read more »

Meh

The explanation for my lack of posting. Aside from the fact that I have been enjoying a nice summer with my husband as well as dealing with other personal bits and pieces - which leaves very little time to blogging. However another reason is this. It seems that there is a considerable lack of current excitement in the movie blogging world at the moment. How else can you explain the sudden surge in movie bloggers going EMMY crazy? I mean in terms of awards, the EMMY's are by far the worst in terms of lazy awarding.
How else do you explain Archie Panjabi beating out Elizabeth Moss for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama?
See even I have been interested in the EMMY's this year since I find the most engaging work to be on television, I have however tried my best not to blog about them - although the work they "award" ignites passion in me.

With wonderful dramas like 'Tremé' and 'Mad Men' to constantly engage me with wonderful writing and performances (the performances are so good, and so subtle that awards bodies usually fail to notice).
Then we have the comedies - that leave me joyous. '£0 Rock' even on a bad day is still oh so good. "Glee' is pure joy, even if slightly uneven, and 'Cougar Town' is such a wonderful guilty pleasure and a fantastic ensemble. And do not get me started on the amazing and delightful 'Modern Family', the getting better with each episode of 'Parks and Recreation' and the cancelled all too soon 'Party Down'. All brilliant comedies - and not a laugh track to be heard.

Then we have those shows that walk the fine line between the two. 'Nurse Jackie' is a comedy in time only (the half hour slot) but features some of the most moving, humorous and complex women seen on screen. Then we have 'United States of Tara' which manages to show the complexity of childhood trauma in a very real way. Then we have the pure soap opera of the fantastic 'True Blood' which features some of the most delicious campy acting, which never become pantomime.

Then I look at what is on offer in the cinemas, and I just cannot get excited - especially since we get the films so much later here in the UK. I am just going to wait and start getting back in the game once the Toronto Film Festival happens. That is when the electricity starts.

Until then, I will continue to read all the latest movie news with the same sort of apathy I reserve for the EMMY's.

Mini Review Catch Up

Here is a little catch up of what I have been watching lately. It has not been the best cinematic year for me, hardly have the money for a movie ticket, sad but true. However I have managed to blag my way into seeing a few. Here are my very very, short but hopefully to the point reviews of the following:


'Clash of the Titans'

Did anyone responsible for this film both to open up a single book on Greek mythology?
It was over blown, CGI heavy and emotionless.
The acting was phoned in, and the only character that seemed to gain any sympathy from me was Medusa. And she was mainly CGI. I real waste of money.

Grade - D-






'Date Night'

Kind of cute.
Kind of funny.
Kind of pointless.
Tina Fey and Steve Carrell are much funnier on the small screen to be honest, unless they are just the support.

Grade - C






'I Love You Phillip Morris;

Sure Jim Carrey is doing his goofy schtick again in this, but the story is rather heart breaking and sweet.
Being gay is never the butt of any joke, which was always my fear.
For a comedy it actually never made the central relationship anything other than honest.
McGregor was very very good as well.

Grade - B





'Sex and the City 2'

What was up with critics? I really enjoyed this little romp. Sure the women bitched and moaned about trivial things, but that is what they have always done - and most women living that lifestyle would do.
And as for the accusations of being anti muslim, I did not see it. All I saw was a bunch of spoiled 'western' women going to a country with a different culture and not bothering to respect it - pretty accurate so far. Also props again to Kristen Davis - the best in the bunch.

Grade - B




'Shutter Island'

Marty does Hitchcock, and does it very well. Perfectly retro and deliciously suspenseful, with Di Caprio proving once again what a versatile actor he can be.
The whole film is grounded by the end realisation of why he is there.
Heartbreaking.

Grade - B+






'The Runaways'

Kristen Stewart proves again that outside of the 'Twilight' series she is a very good and very interesting actress. However she is not the lead. Dakota Fanning grows up and owns the movie. Her Cherie is naive, sexy and pure jail bait but with a constant sadness lurking. Despite how good she is, she cannot perform miracles with so little to work with. Had the film not been so repetitive and had focused more on character we could have perhaps had a serious awards contender here.

Grade - C+




'Toy Story 3'

Believe the hype.
Pixar does it again - and again they bring on the tears.
I mean I seriously want to go out now and buy every single Toy Story character and forever play with them - those manipulative.
bastards.
Damn bloody toys breaking your damn heart.

Grade - A-

'Monsters' trailer

I WANT TO GO TO THERE!!!

Comic Con

Or rather, a collection of super powered testosterone driven films get a preview and geeks everywhere celebrate.
There what is cool looking generally always outshine which story is good.
Yet another Hollywood hype machine that succeeds in driving the anticipation to a fever pitch for that all important opening weekend.

Money money money boys! That is what it is all about. We are even gearing up two of next years most anticipated films.

'Thor' and 'Captain America' whose posters have premiered below.

You cannot get me to the Toronto Film Festival soon enough.

'Made in Dagenham' trailer

This looks like it could be a load of fun, and considering women are still paid less than men to this day, it will hopefully strike a chord. Plus it has the amazing Sally Hawkins, the wonderful Rosemund Pike and the brilliant Miranda Richardson.
Directed by Nigel Cole, the movie was originally called We Want Sex, named after one of the placards brandished by the protestors where the "equality" bit didn't unfurl properly. Perhaps it was a little too silly a movie title.

This could end up being a surprise hit, and with that cast, you never know where an Oscar nomination could come from. They do love the English!

Effectively cashing in

Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after, new life form began to appear and half of Mexico was quarantined as an INFECTED ZONE. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain "the creatures"...... Our story begins when a US journalist agrees to escort a shaken tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the US border.

I smell a 'District 9' cash in, in terms of advertising, but we shall see how effective the actual film is. Word of mouth is strong, yet there is no official release date for 'Monsters'.

Trailers - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Wowee, these trailers are certainly dramatic (read Oscar baiting), however they all cannot make it in the end (or can they?)
Let's take a look at the very baity films that are being released in time for the big awards rush.

'Miral'

Julian Schabel's follow up to 'Le scaphandre et le papillon' ('The Diving Bell and the Butterly') find him going political with this extremely interesting story with a killer cast. The Premise goes:

Jerusalem, 1948. On her way to work, Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass) comes across 55 orphaned children in the street. She takes them home to give them food and shelter. Within six months, 55 had grown to almost 2000, and the Dar Al-Tifel Institute was born.

At the age of 7, Miral (Frieda Pinto) was sent to the Institute by her father following her mothers death. Brought up safely inside the Institutes walls, she is naïve to the troubles that surround her. Then, at the age of 17, she is assigned to teach at a refugee camp where she is awakened to the reality of her peoples struggle. When she falls for political activist, Hani, she finds herself torn between the fight for the future of her people and Mama Hinds belief that education is the road to peace.

The Good - Nice to see Pinto get to stretch her chops in a film that will no doubt be important for a lot of people. The film looks amazing and I am sure it will be an strong emotional and political story. I think it will Abbass who garners the most attention, but Pinto could be a real surprise

The Bad - The wonderful and amazing Hiam Abbass is hardly seen in the trailer, and no sign of Vanessa Redgrave or Willem Dafoe. Odd eh?

The Ugly - Repression of people is never a good thing. In terms of the trailer though, I see nothing ugly in it at all and fully expect this to be a critically acclaimed film if not an awards contender (the Academy are reluctant to embrace other ethnicity's in the actress categories)


'The Town'



Now I was not a fan of 'Gone Baby Gone' but did find it atmospheric and showing promise in Ben Affleck as a director.

The Good - The cast look very impressive with John Hamm, Blake Lively, Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Chris Cooper and Rebecca Hall. I have a distinct feeling that we could be looking at a few contenders in this film, especially in the form of Hamm, Renner, Cooper, Lively and especially Hall.

The Bad - Kind of do not need to see the film now since the trailer has given away far too many plot devises. Not that I could not have guessed the twist, but it seems to take away from the excitement the film could have generated.

The Ugly - Trailers that feel the need to play out the entire movie for you, as though they feel there are no intelligent people out there anymore - here is hoping it has much more to offer.


'Biutiful'



Javier Bardem in his Cannes winning performance - he will be looking for replicate that at the Oscars.

The Good - It is Javier Bardem and Alejandro González Iñárritu who is always interesting to watch. Plus it looks like it will be a very dramatic and gripping story

The Bad - It also looks incredibly bleak and that voice over really upsets me for some reason. It sounds so 'wannabe'

The Ugly - Crime is never a pretty thing, neither is grime. I guess you could argue that rhyming can be ugly too.


'The Social Network'



The story of the beginning of Facebook.

The Good - David Fincher is a wonderful director of suspense, which by the looks of things he is going to wring out of this story. This looks to be his element so I am sure this will be a respected film. Plus the cast of up and comers looks intriguing.

The Bad - Whiny, back-stabbing, money grabbing white kids never really engross me - even if I do use Facebook a little too much.

The Ugly - Farmville, the Facebook game, literally sucked a lot of time away from me. Running home at the speed of light because my tomatoes were about to wither kind of makes you a sad twat.

More join 'The Help'

The wonderful and brilliant character actress Allison Janney has joined what you will all know is one of my very anticipated films of 2011 'The Help'.

She has been cast as Skeeters interfering mother, Charlotte Phelan, and the role is one ripe for scene stealing.

She now joins Emma Stone as aspiring writer Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, Viola Davis as Aibileen. Octavia Spencer as Minnie, and Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly, Skeeter’s childhood friend and adult nemesis.

I tis my belief that Janney is an actress that will one day be embraced by the Academy, she just constantly works so much and is always consistently good - besides, when it does happen, she will have the entire actors branch behind her - she has just worked with everyone.

Will 'The Hobbit' happen?

Apparently yes.

So apparently 'The Hobbit' is in the casting phase right now. Apparently Peter Jackson has been in London 'meeting with actors'.

There is still no official word on if the man will direct the next two films (I would like to see the financial problems with MGM get fixed first) or if he will pass it on to someone else, however they appear to be going ahead as planned. This is good news for all the costume, set, make up, big-a-ture, and fx people who have no doubt been spending years prepping these films, however with such a troubled pre production once has to wonder just how good the film will have to be to make up for all these headaches.

'The Little Mermaid'

Well it looks like Joe Wright is trying to make me fall in love with him?

After the 1, 2 double punch of 'Pride & Prejudice' and 'Atonement' (ignoring 'The Soloist' - although not half bad) he is making a teenage assassin movie called 'Hanna' due for release in 2011 (possibly 2010 if all goes well) and that same year he also has 'Indian Summer' with two actors I greatly admire.

Now it seem he is going ahead and adapting, based on the Little Angel Company production, the classic tale of 'The Little Mermaid'.
Now apparently this production was not based on the Disney film, but rather the original Hans Christian Anderson story which was much darker. How dark will he go is beyond me, but I kind of like the idea of going with the original version.

Because I am lazy and we are having a heat wave (even typing causes sweat) I will copy and past the original, and rather disturbing and bloody, version of the story from Wiki.

This has the potential to be amazing, depending on which was they go with it.

"The Little Mermaid lives in a utopian underwater kingdom with her father the sea king; her grandmother; and her six elder sisters, each born one year apart. When a mermaid turns 15, she is allowed to swim to the surface to watch the world above, and as the sisters become old enough, one of them visits the surface every year. As each of them returns, the Little Mermaid listens longingly to their various descriptions of the surface and of human beings.
When the Little Mermaid's turn comes, she ventures to the surface, sees a ship with a handsome prince, and falls in love with him from a distance. A great storm hits, and the Little Mermaid saves the prince from a near-drowning. She delivers him unconscious to the shore near a temple. Here she waits until a young girl from the temple finds him. The prince never sees the Little Mermaid.
The Little Mermaid asks her grandmother whether humans can live forever if they do not drown. The grandmother explains that humans have a much shorter lifespan than merfolk's 300 years, but that when mermaids die they turn to sea foam and cease to exist, while humans have an eternal soul that lives on in Heaven. The Little Mermaid, longing for the prince and an eternal soul, eventually visits the Sea Witch, who sells her a potion that gives her legs, in exchange for her tongue (as the Little Mermaid has the most intoxicating voice in the world). Drinking the potion will make her feel as if a sword is being passed through her, yet when she recovers she will have two beautiful legs, and will be able to dance like no human has ever danced before. However, it will constantly feel like she is walking on sharp swords, and her feet will bleed most terribly. In addition, she will only get a soul if the prince loves her and marries her, for then a part of his soul will flow into her. Otherwise, at dawn on the first day after he marries another woman, the Little Mermaid will die brokenhearted and disintegrate into sea foam.
The Little Mermaid drinks the potion and meets the prince, who is attracted to her beauty and grace even though she is mute. Most of all he likes to see her dance, and she dances for him despite her excruciating pain. When the prince's father orders his son to marry the neighboring king's daughter, the prince tells the Little Mermaid he will not, because he does not love the princess. He goes on to say he can only love the young woman from the temple, who he believes rescued him, but adds that the Little Mermaid is beginning to take the temple girl's place in his heart. It turns out that the princess is the temple girl, who had been sent to the temple to be educated. The prince loves her and the wedding is announced.

The prince and princess marry, and the Little Mermaid's heart breaks. She thinks of all that she has given up and of all the pain she has suffered. She despairs, thinking of the death that awaits her, but before dawn, her sisters bring her a knife that the Sea Witch has given them in exchange for their long hair. If the Little Mermaid slays the prince with the knife and lets his blood drip on her feet, she will become a mermaid again, all her suffering will end and she will live out her full life.
The Little Mermaid cannot bring herself to kill the sleeping prince lying with his bride and, as dawn breaks, throws herself into the sea. Her body dissolves into foam, but instead of ceasing to exist, she feels the warmth of the sun; she has turned into a spirit, a daughter of the air. The other daughters of the air tell her she has become like them because she strove with all her heart to gain an eternal soul. She will earn her own soul by doing good deeds, and she will eventually rise up into the kingdom of God."

'Hugo'

So everyone has been buzzing about the new Scorsese film ‘Hugo Cabret’. Whilst everyone is geeking out about it mainly die to it being a film made by the beloved Marty, what gets me excited and slightly nervous is the cast.

With Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Helen McRory, Frances De La Tour, and Richard Griffiths all in this film, someone is bound to get lost along the way.

The film is about the orphaned Hugo, living in 1930s Paris in the roof of the Gare Montparnasse, where he tends the clock whilst trying to repair an automaton left him by his father. A tender and affecting relationship drama as well as a cracking adventure and mystery, it's also intricately tied up with the history of cinema, with Georges Melies playing a major role.

With a cast like this you have to wonder how the master will pull it off. Asa Butterfield (‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’) plays Hugo, so the rest of the cast are supporting players in what looks like a who’s who if American and Harry Potter films.

One of the problems with these big casts is that with all the “look! It’s so in so” you kind of loose a bit of the performance. Also with all these actors together there may some competition. When that happens you get some horrendous scene chewing.

Then again it is Scorsese. He has dealt with big casts like this many times, always with good results. Plus the illustrations for the book look so rich.

Yum!

'The Help' casting moves along.

Publicity for ‘The Help’ (novel) is in full drive over here in the UK which is great as I loved the book and think more people need to go out and read it.

The book and the film are going to deal with mainly women and that is even better news as we all know how rare female orientated films are.

Well they have now added to the cast. The role of Celia Foote, an insecure Southerner trying to fit in with the high society crowd and generally not succeeding will be played by ‘Tree of Life’s’ Jessica Chastain (Pictured right). For me this role had Anne Faris written all over it, but oh well.
It is a devastating role that really needs someone to be both comedic, dumb and heart breaking all at the same time. Let’s hope she can nail it.

The rest of the cast is shaping out very nicely as well.

We all know Viola Davis is taking the role of Aibileen Clark who is co lead with two other roles (and she will kill this!), but the rest of cast is becoming interesting.
Bryce Dallas Howerd is playing local racist bitch Hilly Holbrook (I was routing For SMG – Buffy herself).

Emma Stone is Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan the naïve white girl and part of the three leads of the book and the fantastic Octavia Spencer (pictured left) is going to play Minny Jackson which could very well be the role that changes her career - for starters it is another co-lead, secondly the character is a doozy.
Minny is outspoken, funny, rude, and very complex and I have no doubt this gifted comedienne can pull it off.

Her resume may not have a lot of large roles but as they always say, when funny people take a more dramatic role, things usually pay off.
She was lauded for her small role in Will Smiths ‘Seven Pounds’ and was in Entertainment Weekly’s 25 Funniest Actresses in Hollywood in April 2009. Plus she is a native of Montgomery, Alabama so she knows the South.

However the main question is just how good a screenwriter and director is Tate Taylor? Sure he is a nice piece to look at, but can he pull off such a wonderful and subtle book?

His resume does not really leave you with hope, but then again many people said the same thing about Lee Daniels before ‘Precious’ was seen.

What does give me a little hope is that he is a very good friend of Kathryn Stockett who wrote the book (from her own experience) so the pressure will be on to get her vision across (one can only hope she is there on set to breathe down his neck).

I mean can you imagine directing the film of a friends critically lauded book and completely destroying it! Yikes.

Only time will tell, but please, for the love of Madonna Tate – do not f*ck this up.

‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ trailer

Ohhhh, this looks like it may be very very good. Now I am not a huge fan of the ‘Potter’ franchise. I do think they are very strong films, but for some reason they have lacked the WOW factor. Perhaps this is because they came out at the same time as the ‘Lord of the Rings’ films which surpassed them for that.

However they do warrant a rewatch to see how the hold up.

Whatever is said about them, this certainly looks like a much darker more adult film which is what is needed for me to get excited!

Iron Lady

File this under curious.
‘Mama Mia!’ director Phyllida Lloyd – who loves her ‘l’s’ – is planning on reuniting with her films co-star Meryl Streep.

Since ‘Mama Mia!’ could only be described as lite entertainment, the subject matter is rather ambitious for the newbie director.

Meryl is going to be British Conservative – and controversial - Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

Although Thatcher was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 (Whopping time indeed!) the projected film would concentrate on the immediate build-up to the Falklands War in 1982, a time in which Britain was mired in recession and Thatcher's popularity was waning.
The 74 day war famously reversed her fortunes, causing a patriotic swell in the UK that sailed her through the 1983 elections.

Could this be the film that bags Meryl her 3rd Oscar?
Considering 1983 was also the year La Streep won the Oscar for ‘Sophie’s Choice’ it would be very fitting indeed.

However I honestly think that Streep is so damn good, she is going to have to really blow peoples socks off to get that 3rd (and actually I think after she gets the 3rd a 4th will not be so illusive). I mean we are going to have to see Meryl play something she has hardly ever done before. But what has she not done before?