Happy Birthday to
Natalie Portman
30 today
It's been a fantastic year for Natalie. Winning an Oscar for her stunning portrayal of a ballet star on the edge in Black Swan, leading lady in a successful comic book adaptation and building a family with Benjamin Millepied. She currently taking a well-earned hiatus but whatever comes next I'm sure it will be highly anticipated.
Showing posts with label Natalie Portman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Natalie Portman. Show all posts
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Natalie Portman
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Thor
2011. Dir: Kenneth Branagh. Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston and Stellan Skarsgaard. ●●●●○
The dominance of Marvel comics over the summer schedules for 2011 has got off to a good start with the fun and gorgeously designed Thor. Hopefully for them they can keep the ball in the air with the rest of the slate which now has a lot to live up to.
The film opens with a piece of Lord of the Rings style backstory with Sir Anthony Hopkins booming out the relationship between the Norse mythology, our Godlike heroes of the film and the villainous Frost Giants. It's a tale of bloody combat with the Frost Giants virtually totally annihilated and Odin's (the king of the Gods and father to Thor) appetite for war spent. So far so medieval monarchy, you could transplant Odin for any European king in the dark ages, any anti-hero from Jacobean theatrical tradition and his motivations would be a perfect fit, suddenly the decision to hire Kenneth Branagh as director makes perfect sense.
Flash forward many centuries (the Gods appear to age slower than men, although this leaves a small plot hole where a very young Thor would not have made an impact enough to be written about by ancient Scandinavian cultures) where Thor, all smirking self-confidence and irritatingly impatient, is about to attend his coronation. A small team of Frost Giants break into the Asgardian vaults so Thor mounts a war party to seek revenge for this infringement. For this thoughtless lack of diplomacy Odin banishes his firstborn to Earth with his mighty hammer and the hope that he'll learn some humility and the concept of self-sacrifice.
The film then breaks into two parallel storylines. In one, a delightful New Mexico set comedy, Thor is getting to grips with life on Earth and falling for Astro-physicist Natalie Portman, whilst in the other Odin's other son, Loki, is plotting and schemeing his way onto the throne of Asgard.
Chris Hemsworth gives a solid central performance, cocky and unlikeable in the first act, he shows great comic timing in his interactions with the mortals and even when he's given awful dialogue (there are some strange phrases that seem neither Asgardian in tone or like someone trying to fit in) he commits so much it works. When he goes into a pet shop it's a great comic scene that sells the character and his relationship with the world around him. Plus he is extraordinarily cut. Portman doesn't have much to do, sure she comes across much better than most Marvel heroines, clearly able to hold her own intellectually with the rest of the characters and doesn't have a scene where she needs to be rescued, however she mainly spouts unlikely scientific statements and builds up a desire for Thor. The other earthbound cast are fine, Stellan Skarsgaard and Kat Dennings as Portman's colleagues are great value, with the former particularly struggling to keep a straight face.
There are so many characters in Asgard few of them get enough of an opportunity to build character, only Tom Hiddleston's Loki with his multiple Machiavellian schemes (it's truly difficult to keep track on what he's actually doing) displays any conflicting emotion and whilst he did the job well here I think there's more and better work coming from the young Brit. Idris Elba, as gatekeeper Heimdall, was wasted in a role that promised much but I suspect was left partly on the cutting room floor. On that note at 114 minutes, including a pointless post credits extra scene with Samuel L. Jackson; just pointing the way to The Avengers heavyhanded given the few chucklesome mentions of other characters which had slipped in the script ("Is that Stark technology?", "I have a colleague working on Gamma Radiation" etc.), the time flew by and I wouldn't be surprised if there's a significant number of deleted scenes once the DVD roles around.
Branagh shows a sure hand with the comic and Asgard formal scenes, clearly using all his experience from adapting Shakespeare, and he is surprisingly adept with the action set-pieces I found I knew exactly what was going on during them, however there is a slight issue with the character, if you know Thor cannot be killed as he is a God then the tension is drained. Only the final battle in Asgard surprised me in it's conclusion, and it's clearly open for a sequel I just hope that possibility isn't just dusted over in The Avengers.
My major complaint about Thor is the totally unnecessary 3D filming. Not only does very little happen that justifies the additional expense, but the murkiness of watching through glasses totally ruins the spectacular design of Asgard. I can honestly say that watching the trailer on my cheap laptop was a superior experience because of the bright and crisp colours that watching the print at the cinema. Alexandra Byrne's costumes and Bo Welch's production design deserve so much more than showing the film in 3D.
Overall I'd say Thor is well worth the trip to the cinema. Sure it's no X2 but it's a fun comic book adaptation with some fine performances that will keep you entertained throughout. That said do your best to watch in 2D.
Friday, 15 April 2011
Something we all do (Out this week - 15/04/11)
Odd little week, without much exciting at the cinemas, but some independent US and overseas efforts keep the art-house crowd happy enough. With the latest block buster efforts from Catherine Hardwicke and Wes Craven fighting for the top spot I'll definitely be attending a multiplex at some point, but the film of the week is Little White Lies.
Little White Lies
Actor turned director Guillaume Canet amazed everyone with his 2007 thriller Tell No One and here gets the opportunity to follow-up with a multiple character mood piece as a group of bourgeois 30 somethings head to the coast to play fast and loose with the truth of their relationships. Marion Cotillard reminds everyone she's French.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
Meeks Cutoff
Michelle Williams (with a lab called Lucy) broke hearts in Kelly Reichart's relationship drama and now they have reteamed for this female centric look at the journey west taken by the early settlers. It's a very early horse in the 2012 Oscar race - be interesting to see if it's remembered at the end of the year.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
Red Riding Hood
With undertones of terrorism paranoia and the nature of sexual desire, Hardwicke's interviews about her new Twilight inspired Werewolf/fairy tale hybrid are more fascinating than most of the pre-release publicity. Still the costumes look fantastic.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Scream 4
This is probably the biggest release I've heard of which has failed to screen the movie to Broadsheet critics prior to the release date. Anthony Quinn, writing for The Independent, is particularly pissed off by this, but it's hard to resist this belated sequel.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Winnie the Pooh
Charming looking return to the seven acre wood we all grew up in, with Christopher Robin's adventures with his stuffed animals. The trailer exhibits how Disney aren't afraid to play with the traditional illustrations, including words from the prose getting entangled with the story. Definitely the best choice for kids this month.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Cold Weather
Not strictly speaking mumblecore, but clearly influenced by the movement, this non-detective story with a brother-sister reuniting in Portland, Oregon over Conan Doyle and mutual friends has been highly praised by critics and festival goers and may just be a surprise worth looking out for.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Your Highness
Poisonous notices have scuppered any chance this stoner-medieval quest movie has of making it's budget back. It's like The Princess Bride but with all the wit and carefully crafted characterisations taken out. God knows how Oscar baity actors like Natalie Portman and James Franco were persuaded to get involved. Avoid.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
And missed from last week:
Cold Fish
Japanese Black Comedy, supposedly based on a true story, that charts the differing fortunes of two aquarium owners as business and personal relationships descend into madness and serial killing. Askew glances to societal traditions in the far East are bound to come into play.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Thursday, 3 March 2011
New York, I Love You
2009. Dir: Various. Starring: Natalie Portman, Ethan Hawke, Chris Cooper, Cloris Leachman and Julie Christie. ●●●○○
It's difficult to review a collection of shorts like New York, I Love You, do you review each of the shorts as individual pieces, or try to assess the whole collection as a single entity? Luckily we have a template as this is a follow up to the critically acclaimed 2006 film Paris, Je T'Aime which presented a number of Gallic themed romances. Unfortunately New York doesn't live up to the high standards of his European predecessor.
The premise is relatively simple, 10 renowned directors (including Mira Nair and Brett Ratner) take a geographical area of the Big Apple and portray a love affair which somehow encapsulates the feel and atmosphere of the region whilst being linked by a mysterious French girl filming segments of life with her video camera. One of the main issues of the project is that none of the films seems to be uniquely presenting a way of life in the city, they're all stories that could easily be transplanted to an alternative zip code.
Three of the shorts stood out of the pack as worth watching.
Mira Nair is an old hand at the short film format, having worked on 8 and the 9/11 memorial collection. Here the chaste romance between Hasidic bride to be Natalie Portman and Jain divorcee Irfan Khan as they barter over diamond prices, cleverly highlighting the differences and ties between them over their irreconcilable faiths is fascinating and beautifully played.
Ethan Hawke, Maggie Q, Chris Cooper and Robin Wright have two very different conversations about hooking up with strangers in the city, with pull the rug under our feet consequences (alas the first meeting was rather ruined in the trailer) which blindside the audience in a surprising yet shocking way, and both involve the female taking charge of the sexual nature of their conversations reversing the usual gender expectations. Yvan Attal takes a lo-fi hand held approach to the direction allowing the actors room to breathe. Hawke himself probably takes the performance crown for the piece for this section and for his delightfully funny miming in the linking segments.
The final section, and the only one with a real sense of place, is Joshua Marston's Coney Island set two hander with Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman alternatively hilariously bickering and touchingly quiet as they walk to the seafront. The dialogue between them clearly illustrates the nature of their relationship and the underlying love between them. It's one of the few scenes that offers contrast and a lightness of touch missing from most of the other films.
Other scenes, such as the ponderous Shekhar Kapur segment (wasting John Hurt and Julie Christie) and the overtricksy opener with Andy Garcia and Hayden Christiansen (directed by Jiang Wen), are best avoided but as with all collections there's an unfortunate inconsistency in quality which combined with the drabness of the collection makes this tough to recommend.
Hopefully by the time we get to Shanghai, I love you some of those issues will be resolved.
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Are you a strong creature? (Out this week - 25/02/11)
We're back to the normal pace this week with seven hig profile releaes, and a couple of Bollywood entries. Although the box office lead could easily go to any one of the options available the film of the week remains Oscar-nominated Aussie entry Animal Kingdom.
Animal Kingdom
Family crime drama from Oz, with newcomer James Frecheville getting overwhelmed by the criminal fraternity he finds himself drawn into led by his violent, unpredictable uncle Ben Mendelsohn and his Oscar-nominated grandmother Jacki Weaver.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●●○
Howl
James Franco proves he's no one trick pony with his extraordinary performance as beat poet Allen Ginsberg, however movies are really the best way to present poetry and despite the best efforts of a supporting cast including Jeff Daniels and David Strathairn and animated sequences to illustrate the literary illusions it may be best to just go to the page.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
The Rite
It's had dreadful write-ups and has taken a paltry $30m in the US in spite of hitting the top of the box office on it's opening weekend, that said there must be mileage in watching Anthony Hopkins hamming it up as a priest in constant battle with the Devil.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Drive Angry
Nicolas Cage, and his latest crime against hair styling, escapes from hell (wtf???!!!) to rescue babies being sacrificed to Satan - nice tie up to The Rite, do I hear a double bill planned - in this pleasantly barmy sounding 3D high octane adventure
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
I am Number Four
It's a film that will probably be remembered more for it's genesis that the half-baked alen invasion meets teen romance plot. Its the first movie from James Fry's publishing house whoich sounds a little like the Mills and Boon writing model for stories designed for film adaptations. There needs to be better quality control though.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
No Strings Attached
Oh, Natalie Portman, what have you done. Released in mid Oscar voting season this turkey about a fuck buddy relationship developed with Ashton Kutcher may just cost her the golden statue. Kevin Kline also stars.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Satrangee Parachute
Bollywood kids comic-drama with five friends lost in Mumbai searching for a parachute - no, really - whilst their family freak out in their small village. Looks like it may appeal to younger children.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Seedan
Sentimental love story between an orphaned servant girl who is taken care of like her daughter by the owner of the house and the owner’s son who comes in to stay for a few days before leaving for USA. Remake of another Bollywood movie.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
West is West
Completely unnecessary and curiously delayed sequel to hit British/Pakistani comedy East is East whish this time sees our wife-beating bigamist father return to Pakistan to show his youngest son about his heritage.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
And here are some minor releases I missed out from last week:
7 Khoon Maaf
Dark comedy about a serial killing/serial marrying woman, a Bollywood anser to Bluebeard perhaps. Irfan Khan has a starring role.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Nadunissi Naaygal
Ugly sounding Tamil/Teluga movie based around the psychotic behaviour of a woman who was sexually abused as a child.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Shine of Rainbows
From the sacharine and gag-reflex inducing title onwards this Irish-Candadian co-productions looks very missable, especially when the imdb plot synopsis goes: A lonely orphan's life is transformed by an extraordinary woman who teaches him to conquer grief and discover the magic in nature and himself. Shudder.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Black Swan
2010. Dir: Darren Aronofsky. Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder. ●●●●●
It's all too easy to forget that cinema is an art form, we tend to imagine the studios heads sitting in overlit offices with fawning assistants, counting the box office receipts of whatever Transformer shaped dreck they've unleased to the public as a coked-out pimp would guard his wares. Even those of us who profess a love of arthouse cinema, with our badly subtitled Albanian propaganda that quietly destroys beourgeois family values whilst simultaneously propping up our intellectually elitist worldview, have been fooled by false prophets of the human spirit. But this study of artistic desire, this interlude in the mind of performer, this screeching, screaming "were-swan" pushes past the boundaries of the screen, boldly pronouncing "I AM ART"! Black Swan is the first film I've seen for a long time that cannot be judged against normal rules; it's as much an installation as a movie.
That's it. Rave over. The hyperbole is done with. My point though is Black Swan enters your conciousness in a way few films do. I've not seen all of the films that made it to the Academy's top ten yesterday, but I doubt Swan will be my favourite, however it will be the one I remember for longer. Certain images, themes and moments within the movie will stay ingrained in my head, so visceral is the experience I felt I was up there with Natalie Portman's Nina executing every pirouette forcing my way through the dance.
You see it's impossible: to describe it is to relive the moment.
Portman's Nina gets a surprise bump up the pecking order of her ballet troupe, cast in the dual role of the Swan Queen and Black Swan in Tchaikovsky's most famous ballet Swan Lake. Vincent Cassel as her director/choreographer and would-be lover taunts her inability to unlock the passion of the Black Swan, to overthrough the virginal perfection of her dancing and awaken the inner desires. Enter Mila Kunis as her rival, a dancer able to fully show the passion of the Black Swan, unhindered by the desperation to please.
It is this desperation that fuels the story, the layer upon layer of agony and mental torment that Nina puts herself through. Slowly destroying her body through excessive practice and relentless acts of self-harm and bulimia. When the opening night comes we hear every cracking bone, every heaving breath as Nina forces her way through the performance, like her natural counterparts we are treated to the excessive underwater effort whilst the audience see only the gentle majesty of the whole. Nina wants to be admired, she seeks the gratification of the applause and internally vows to prove the doubters, the other dancers, the lothario Cassel, her own bitter and poisonous mother, icily performed by Barbara Hershey, even when cooing over her "sweet, sweet girl".
None of the cast miss their marks, and Portman especially gives a career best performance fully realisng the emotional journey of her doomed heroine.
There are elements that don't work, the script overeggs the pudding reminder us again and again of the themes, and Winona Ryder's passed over Prima Ballerina Beth seems to exist purely to underline old cliches repeated in far too many ballet movies, but these cannot take away from the superb mix of sound and image.
Matthew Libatique upclose hand held cinematography enters the world created by David Stein's art direction and Amy Westcott's costumes, at the same time the layering of sound, dialogue and Matt Dunkley and Clint Mansell's arrangements of Tchaikovsky's masterpiece ensure every moment fits together even when we're clearly left the natural world.
But all of this leads to Darren Aronofsky. It's an achievement that cannot be overstated, he has directed a piece of art, he sought perfection, and that alone makes it worth seeing.
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
2010 in Review: Best Actress
I missed out on some performances this year that are bound to get attention (both The Kids are Alright and Winter's Bone will wait until DVD) and some I did see failed to live up to expectation (hello Sandra Bullock and Helen Mirren) but these five actresses were all at the top of their game:
1. Gabourey Sidibe as Precious in Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire. Both inexpressive and natural the subtlety of Gabby's work could easily have slipped through the net, but it's a wonderfully committed performance as her character falls further and further into a spiral of despair.
2. Natalie Portman as Grace Cahill in Brothers. Next year I expect I'll view this as just a precursor to her work in Black Swan but as the lost and confused wife of Tobey Maguire in this remake she stole my heart. 
3. Maribel Verdú as Miranda in Tetro. Many women fell for the wrong man at cinemas this year but few seemed to be as aware of this as Verdú in Francis Ford Coppola's Soap Opera. A former psychiatrist who now lives with a patient Maribel balanced the resentment and motherly instinct extremely well.
4. Lesley Manville as Mary in Another Year. An alcoholic harridan; it would be easy to lose all sympathy for Mary as she spouts vicious innuendo and desperately tries to hide her age, but Manville manages to show what lies behind the cracks. 
5. Alicja Bachleda as Ondine in Ondine. Is she a mermaid or just an illegal immigrant? The beauty of Bachleda's performance is that she keeps you guessing right until the final credits of this modern fairy tale.
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Natalie Portman
Happy Birthday to
Natalie Portman
29 today
When I do these birthdays each day I usually amazed at how old pople are, but with Natalie I'm amazed at how young she is. She seems to have been around, as a major film star, forever. In fact her breakthrough, Leon, was in 1994 which was followed by some great supporting turns (Beautiful Girls, Mars Attacks) in 1996 then a three year gap before the Star Wars prequels exploded onto our screens. Since then she's kept active with a nice balance of high profile and more serious fare. I'm still hoping to see her in New York, I Love You - should it ever open - and in the next twelve months we should see her extremes in comic-book adap Thor and ballerina thriller Black Swan.
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Brothers
2009. Dir: Jim Sheridan. Starring: Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Sam Shepard and Bailee Madison. ●●●●○
The effects of war on the home front and familial relations of warriors has been a common dramatic device that can be traced back to the traditions of Greek theatre. As a narrative techinque is can be used as a shorthand for pro-war propaganda, for bold broad statements about the futility of conflict or for trying to treat the subjects as disconnected to the war, as men first not as an extension of the rights and wrongs of the particualr war and to remind the audience that the soldiers are only trained to fight and kill and not to deal with the psychological after-effects.
Brothers clearly fits into that third category. The legality or morality of the conflict in Afghanistan is therefore completely ignored, instead the film focusses on Marine Captain Tobey Maguire's deployment and how his family cope first with him being reported as missing in action and then the surprising aftermath.
Maguire is the elder of the films titular brothers with Jake Gyllenhaal as his lost younger brother. For every positive character trait exhibited by Maguire Gyllenhaal is able to show the opposite. Maguire is a family man, with an abiding love for wife Natalie Portman and a respect for his father Sam Shepard (following him into the military) whereas Gyllenhaal is a borderline alcoholic ex-con (just released at the start of the picture) with father issues and no long term relationship on the horizon.
I don't want to spoil what happens in the third act, but if you've seen Susanne Bier's original you will know that following capture and emotional torture by the Taliban Maguire's character returns to the family with deep scars and pathological jealousy of how Gyllenhaal has reformed himself in the wake of the tragedy and got closer to Portman. By the end the roles of the brothers, whilst not reversed, are certainly more blurred.
The story veers towards melodrama at many points, but the grounded and tender performances more than keep that in check - our leading trio are all superb with Maguire's wide eyed intensity adding to the characters histrionics as he processes the appalling indignities he has endured, whilst Portman's is torn between the man she loved but no longer recognises and his brother who is slowly emerging as a better man.
The realism of the family scenes are such that we fully believe in the shifting dynamics and Sheridan's sensitive handling is able to succesfully balance the themes of jealousy, redemption and how we are shaped by our parents.
There are problems though. There were a couple of scenes, which I felt didn't fit into the overall picture - Carey Mulligans house visit complete with heavy handed dream references and freaky eyed baby seemed unneccessary and the surprise visit of Gyllenhaal's pickup to a kids birthday party seemed to be unsurprising to either her of the family. On the other hand other aspects could have been extended. For instance the rebuilding of the relationship between Gyllenhaal and Shepard seemed rushed, like there was a scene missing and I would have liked to have seem more trust built between them.
Overall this is a great film that really understands and empathises with it's central protagonists without judging them. It deserves to be lauded and remembered as this conflicts Coming Home.
Friday, 15 January 2010
20 for 2010 - Black Swan
Leaping gracefully to number 4 is Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.
Ballet has often been used as a metaphor for freedom and youth by filmmakers, or as a way of escape. In films as diverse as The Red Shoes and Billy Elliott once the music begins the protagonists can hide away from the reality of the world they live in. So Aronofsky's thriller about the rivalry between professional dancers may subvert that tradition - here the mere act of dancing will focus the tension, not disappate it.
I imagine we could expect nothing less from the director of Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain and The Wrestler. His characters are often carried on by forces unknown to them whether it's a drug addiction, the lure of the ring or a fatalistic love affair.
There is also a supernatural element - Natalie Portman's dancing adversary Mila Kunis may be real, or may just be a figment of her imagination. This may also link to the the freedom of creativity and the madness that competitiveness can bring.
Alternatively it could be a bog standard ghost thriller... What do you think? I'm pretty hyped up about it either way.
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