Juliette Lewis

Happy Birthday to

Juliette Lewis

38 today

Juliette was supposed to have a great year in 2010, with a number of interesting projects including box office currying comedies and award-baity real-life dramas however whilst her performances were cited as good nothing really came of it. As a result whilst she has four more films in the pipeline I doubt I'll go to see any of them.

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Breaking up is so very hard to do (Out this week - 14/01/11)

We're still wading through prestige pictures here in the UK, with some awards calibre performances ready to shine through. Whilst I personally am checking out the low brow option at the multiplexes the other two top scorers both look interesting, with the clear film of the week being:



Blue Valentine

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams (both of whom are very close to oscar nods for their work) headline this make-up/break-up relationship drama from director Derek Cianfrance. The process by which they made the film is as fascinating as the story - using different film stocks for each of the time periods covered, putting up the actors together in a house so they really know each others thoughts etc.

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Conviction

Tony Goldwyn's true life-tale of a mother who enrols in law-school in order to begin a 18 year battle to free her wrongly convicted brother almost screams movie of the week, but it's empowering story and A-list cast (Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Melissa Leo, Minnie Driver and Juliette Lewis) are enough to make it worthwhile.

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The Green Hornet

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg may seem an unlikely pair of writers to embark on a superhero movie, given their last collaboration was Pineapple Express, but then the hornet is no ordinary superhero. As the deconstruction of comic book fanboy cinema continues it'll be interesting to see where this fits in the canon.

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Henry's Crime

Just when you thought it was safe to return to the cinema Keanu Reeves has returned with this low key crime caper (he's robbing the same bank, again) with Vera Farmiga and James Caan lending some credibility.

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Yamla Pagla Deewana

It's the Bollywood films that will probably benefit most from the recent changes in my grading system - whether it will be enough for any of them to be film of the week remains to be seen. This one's about a prodigal son returning to the bosum of his con-artist family.

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Final Sacrifice

Also known as Last Letters from Monte Rosa it's a low budget second world war movie focussing on the relationships between German and Italian soldiers during the Allied invasion of Italy. I'm not sure about relationship between this film and Ari Taub previous war movie The Fallen is, but it looks like a very similar feel.

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Travellers

It seems unlikely but this is the second week running where I've issued a one blob rating, and I fully stand by it. This dreadful looking indie brit follows a group of high flying city boys as they go into the Wilderness (of Surrey!!!) and get involved in a deadly game of cat and mouse with some Irish travellers.

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How Time Passes (Out this week - 05/11/10)

Happy Diwali (apologies for the delay), for those of you celebrating the festival of light and anyone Bollywood curious you do have a fine selection however there isn't really a competition for this weeks most anticipated film, every time Mike Leigh makes another picture it's an event. That said I believe the Robert Downey Jr. comedy vehicle will take the box office championship - personally I'd rather steam clean the cinema seats than watch that! Film of the week is Another Year.



Another Year

Following a normal happy middle class couple (played by Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen) over the course of one year, and a number of Sunday lunches, Leigh's latest looks at the varyiong fortunes of their friends and relatives. Lesley Manville and Imelda Stanton are among the supporting cast.

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Chikku Bukku

The first of the Bollywood offerings is a little hard to track down, no IMDB listing as yet, and the details on pearl and dean are pretty vague. We do know it's a love story and stars Preeta Roa, sister of Amrita Rao, in her film debut.

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Due Date

It's not a remake of Plane, Trains and Automobiles, really it isn't. It just looks and feels like a leaner meaner version with Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis taking the Martin and Candy roles. I expect they fall a long way short. Jamie Foxx and Juliette Lewis take supporting roles.

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Fit

Well meaning Brit film about homophobia in schools. The trailer makes it seem like a filmed TIE performance. I want to support it, but what can you do?

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Golmaal 3

Not only am I not interested in this Bollywood sequel but I would go as far as complaining about the promotion of this film which claims it's the first threequel from India. The marketing team blatantly ignoring Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy. Boo.

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Let Me In

Superior looking US horror remake (as in superior for remakes, not superior than the original) based on the award winning Swedish vampire film. Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee play the pre-teen protagonists (bearing in mind one of them may be older than he/she appears) but it's Richard Jenkins who's getting the lions share of acting plaudits.

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Mammoth

Lukas Moodysson's English language debut takes the template of Babel and looks at three interconnected storylines from across the globe. Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams are the middle class New Yorkers at the heart of the plot.

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Red and White

Indonesian cinema looks at the pivotal period of postwar history where they fought for indepedence from the Dutch colonialists. It's an interesting stor which probably deserves to be told, but the cliches look to come thick and fast in this stodgy movie.

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Uthama Puthiran

Finally we have another Eastern Import with few background details, other than it's a Tamil remake of the Teluga hit Ready.

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Just going with it (Out this week - 03/09/10)

I would love to say that we're spoiled for choice this week, that there are 14 films of excellent quality and a wide range of styles and genres. Unfortunately most of them at first glance appear to be absolutely dreadful... I expect Dinner for Schmucks will just about win at the box office, but for film of the week I'm going for Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy



Bonded by Blood

British Gangster movie based on a real life quartet of drug dealers who were brutally murdered in Kent in 1995. Very sweary.

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Certified Copy

The run-in between French acting giants Gerard Depardieu and Juliette Binoche may have soured reception for her latest showcase but Kiarostami's first non-Iranian movie, about a gallery owner and a novelist slowly falling in love should stir all the right emotions.

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Cherry Tree Lane

I don't know if September sees the official start of the horror season but there's quite a few out the week, one of the most interesting is this Brit effort which sees a suburban couple hijacked by a group of hoodies intent of wrecking revenge for being shopped in for a previous crime.

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Chhevan Dariya

Punjabi musical celebration of marriage, oddly enough part US funded. Still not interesting enough though.

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Dinner for Schmucks

The original concept (from the French film this is ripped off from) is a competition to find the most annoying dinner guest and during the meal one of guests manages to ruin his hosts life. This American remake decides that having Steve Carell mug through supper is clearly not enough so opens the film up. Please avoid.

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Jonah Hex

Part Western, part gothic horror, part comic book adaptation of a lesser known property. Watch it for Megan Fox oddly soft focused throughout the movie, or because it flopped so badly in the states. Actually with a cast including Josh Brolin, John Malkovich and Michael Shannon I'm not completely turned off by it.

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The Last Exorcism

Horror movie two takes the traditional exorcism route, only adds a modern twist in the form of a fly on the wall documentary crew filming a con artist exorcist who on his last job actually comes across a real demon. It's had some good notices.

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Nandalala

For the fourth time I am mentioning this slightly offensive looking Bollywood road trip following a child and a man with learning difficulties try to find their lost parents. It's unlikely to be actually out this week either...

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Soul Boy

As in Northern Soul, the British derivative of the Soul music scene that flowered in the 1970's and forms the backdrop of this Stoke set coming of age drama.

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Splintered

This is the nasty horror movie, also from the UK - making it a bumper week for homegrown releases, that you probably won't be wanting to see at the muliplex. Unless you like sweaty chesty girls screaming for mercy.

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The Switch

Artificial Insemination has become the rather unlikely film trend for 2010 with Jennifer Aniston now following J-Lo in using the turkey baster for a different purpose. Jason Bateman reportedly steals the show as the neurotic best friend and Juliette Lewis also shows up.

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22 Bullets

Jean Reno has decided to go straight after a long career in the Marseilles Mafia, naturally they drag him back in by attempting to assassinate him. Then it turns into a revenge fantasy - I don't know if the 22 bullets refer to the times he's shot or the number of people he must kill for revenge.

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We are Family

Bollywood film, partly set in Australia (interesting trend there too), where a devoted mother and divorcee meets her ex husband new girlfriend and starts to take on her career orientated outlook - to hilarious results no doubt.

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Why did I get Married Too

Following the moderate success of Tyler Perry produced Precious back in January the writer/director and star of the Madea franchise has decided to release his first personal project here in the secular UK. Given it's a direct sequel and the Christian ethos isn't subtle I can't see it being a massive hit here. Cicely Tyson and Louis Gossett Jr. are among the supporting cast.

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Juliette Lewis

Happy Birthday to

Juliette Lewis

37 today

Juliette has been going through a very rough patch, pretty much since the end of the 1990's, only enlivened by the odd great supporting role, like in Whip It earlier this year. Coming up she has two high profile comedies (supporting Jennifer Aniston and Robert Downey Jnr respectively) and the wrongful imprisonment drama Conviction, the trailer ofr which was released this week. I can't say any of these projects inspire me but if they help to bring Juliette back into the public concious then that's got to be a good thing.

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Out This Week (09/04/10)

It's quite a quiet weekend, although frankly that's a good thing - I've been so busy that I've hardly had a time to stop and think; let alone got a chance to go to the cinema this weekend. I'll be letting you know all about it on Sunday with the personal news post (and what a post it will be). Still if I was going to the cinema this weekend I'd definitely be up for Drew Barrymore's directorial debut with Whip It.



I Am Love

Tilda Swinton gets a rare chance to lead a major film, albeit clearly European arthouse in it's feel. She plays a Russian immigrant in Italy married into a loveless and wealthy family who has an affair. Doubt it ends well.

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I Know You Know

I had spoken about this film back in November, when it was originally scheduled for release, but here's a chance to ignore it again. Robert Carlyle is a distant father who's son slowly works out he's a MI5 agent. Based on a true story.

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The Infidel

Gifted alternative comic David Baddiel's first movie script focuses on an Muslim father who shockingly finds out not only that he was adopted but that he was born Jewish. The trailer is very funny, but I worry that the hook is enough to sustain an hour and a half.

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Prince

At one point this Bollywood actioner was subtitled It's Showtime, but I very much doubt that helps explains the sci-fi tinged heist movie that the trailer indicates - nor does it explain why one of the girls on the poster doesn't just look like she's been photoshopped in, but that a cardboard cut-out of her has been photo-shopped in.

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Shelter

Did anyone notice Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers making this? All of Rhys-Meyers' multiple personalities are murder victims and Moore must find out why before the credits role. Like a knock-off of Identity, then.

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Whip It

If you like Roller derbys then you'll love this seventies throwback, with Ellen Page rebelling her middle class by joining the local team under the moniker Babe Ruthless. The great supporting cast includes director Drew Barrymore, Marcia Gay Harden and Juliette Lewis.

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And last week I missed:

Jawani Zindabaad

But I can't write anything about it at all as there are no reviews, trailers or plot descriptions that I can find...

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