Runs like a Gay needs you!
Sometimes I have to make tough decisions, a couple of weeks ago I watched Ides of March and Tintin but at the time of writing I still haven't caught up The Help, hopefully I will - given the impact the film will probably make on the awards season - but maybe the choices about what I saw that weekend are now cast in stone. We can't go back.
But in 17 days time I have an even tougher decision. There are four films released which I have been following since the idea was first put together, or since before this blog was invented in one case, and I probably won't have the opportunity to see them all. So which ones do I prioritise, how do I make Ben's choice?
This is why I need you, dear reader, the trailers are presented in alphabetical order here, but in the comments I'd like you to rank the possibilities in order that I should see them. I'll go by the consensus opinion.
The Big Year
I suspect the least votes will go to this fairly inoffensive comedy starring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson especially given it's atrocious opening over in the States (yet to pass $7m domestic), but I did list it in my top 20 for 2011 so maybe I owe it something.
Happy Feet Two
The trailers don't seem to be selling this animated sequel terribly well, but then expectations for the original were pretty low and it went on to win the Best Animated Oscar. I simply don't see enough animated films, which explains why I'm considering this.
Hugo
On paper Martin Scorsese's latest movie is easily the top choice, with it's elaborate production and central love story to early cinema and 1920's Paris it could be unmissable. That said it's a children's film and early word has been complimentary but hardly gushing.
Margaret
Finally we have Kenneth Lonergan's very long awaited follow-up to You Can Count on Me which has sat in post production since Matt Damon and Anna Paquin looked very young. This will almost certainly be the hardest to watch on this list with a suspected limited release pattern.
I'm fairly open minded so write in nominations for other films opening in the UK on 02 December 2011 may also be considered but they will need a lot of support.
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Tuesday Trailers - Frantic Friday
Monday, 28 March 2011
Dianne Wiest
Happy Birthday to
Dianne Wiest
63 today
I had mixed feelings towards Dianne's performance in Rabbit Hole. Whilst I could appreciate the technical skill the character seemed to have wandered in from another movie, with little connection to Nicole Kidamn as her daughter. That said there are lots of opportunities for Ms Wiest to turn be back into a supporter - over the next couple of yeasr she'll appear in twitching comedy Big Year, shaggy dog-tale Darling Companion and family drama The Odd life of Timothy Green.
Thursday, 13 January 2011
20 for 2011: 16 - The Big Year
Number 16 on our countdown is twitching comedy The Big Year.
We all know that I don't really "do" comedy. Generally I try to avoid that sort of thing as what makes us laugh as individuals is so distinct that few people can agree on any fram of reference. Nevertheless I am curious about this bird-watching caper, hoping it may tend towards farce in a easy to enjoy way.
Among the twitchers are Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin, and although we're a long way past his heyday I believe a return to form must be on it's way eventually. Plus the supporting cast is excellent including Anjelica Huston, Dianne Wiest and Rosamund Pike. It's a light choice in the countdown but I'm sure it'll fit in fine.
Saturday, 8 May 2010
Film News (08/05/2010)
I can't say that I spent much of this week looking at the news, what with the election on my mind I have been somewhat preoccupied. These four stories did jump out at me though.
Peace, Love and Misunderstanding
When Jane Fonda came out of retirement in 2005 we all drew collective breaths in awe of her talent, and looked forward to the fantastic projects she would have needed to bring her out. Unfortunately she made the funny enough Monster-in-Law followed by the very pedestrian Georgia Rule. Hopefully her next film will be an improvement, even if it is a Georgia in reverse as workaholic conservative Catherine Keener goes back to her mother tree-hugging Fonda to recover from a messy divorce. Admittedly this synopsis sound like utter garbage - it goes on to say they find love in extraordinary places - but that sort of combined talent can't be ignored.
Read on for twitching, ghost stories and an extraordinary horse.
The Big Year
When this birdwatching comedy first came to my attention (through production news in March) I clearly stated that it may have one of the least interesting casts of all time with Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson as competitive twichers. However since then there have been some developments with a supporting cast now in place including Anjelica Huston, Dianne Wiest, Rosamund Pike and Tim Blake Nelson. All of which is beginning to turn me. Still one to look out for. Like the guys on the left are doing.
The Skin I live in
Pedro Almodovar has annouced his next project, and it reunited him with his Tie Me Up, Tie me Down star Antonio Banderas. Strangely though, it's said to be a kind of horror movie, with Banderas playing a plastic surgeon who enacts a terrible revenge on his daughter's rapists - a more continental version of the Last House on the Left, if you will. Can't wait to see what Almovar does with a torture scene!
War Horse
You are fully entitled to take this story with a big pinch of salt, but apparently Steven Spielberg has decided his next film to direct will be the big screen adaptation of War Horse. (Not Interstellar or Pirates Latitude or Indiana Jones 5 or 39 Clues or Harvey or Matt Helm or the biopics of Abraham Lincoln or George Gershwin or Martin Luther King.) Adapted from the original children's story by Michael Morpurgo and not the hit play version which has a puppet horse (see below) the tale revolves around a pit pony that's sent to the front during the First World War. Expect Spielberg to try to make you cry.
