Mavens:
I hope you all have enjoyed a summer of the sneaks, and two in particular, Everlasting Moments and Tetro. Wonderful movies. I have not written in a while, and here's why:
As you know, I wanted to take the summer hiatus to develop a more imaginative brand of movieclub, one building on our experiences of last spring. I wanted to change our website, figure out how to bring in more filmmaker guests, build the membership, find a way to work closer with Quebec distributors and their marketing people. I wanted to change the name as well: my best so far is Le Movieclub, which seems available, and strikes a right note to my ear. What do you think? I also want to introduce more of the terrific films that we missed.
We've also had a series of conversations with lots of people. All suggestions are gratefully received, so if you have ideas, let us know. Nothing has yet been etched in stone, but things are moving, and as soon as I can, I will announce all I know. I'm still targeting us getting back to screening the best of the new movies by mid-September.
For example, I know an increasing number of you are game to review upcoming movies in the press previews. Which is great. But how about this? Instead of just one of us, writing up the movie, how about three, or five, offering different perspectives? We'd publish them all on the site. Or - instead of us just blogging the movie we're screening on the upcoming movie, why not screen & blog every interesting film that opens, and then blog it as well.
Here are some other ideas: electronically, Lynn Verge has introduced me to Gerald Clarke, a Judy Garland biographer who lives in Montreal, and so I want to explore whether we can get a copy of A Star is Born. Then invite Mr. Clarke to come talk to us. This is the 20th anniversary of Space Odyssey 2001, and I'd like to bring Keir Dullea to Montreal to talk of it with us.
To those of you with friends interested in joining us, forward to them this note, have them send me an email, and I'll include them on the mailing list. In a couple of weeks, I'll send out a notice, enabling all those who want in, to get in.
One last reminder: I'm speaking at the Atwater Library's lunch lecture series on September 9th about the movieclub and how we've learned to look at movies differently in the 21st century. Come if you're interested. It's free. And I'd appreciate the support.
In the meantime, scroll down for a teaser to tantilize you: a list I've patched together for my own purposes of possible upcoming movies, slated to open in Montreal this fall. Some don't have dates. Some don't seem to have distributors attached. Ang Lee is making a movie called “Taking Woodstock,” about, you guessed it, Woodstock. Finally, there is James Cameron’s long, long awaited “Avatar.
A caveat: distributor info is always somewhat shaky. Still, one way or another, these movies will all probably get here, one day or another. Biopics of Coco Chanel, Amelia Earhart, Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin and John Keats - how about that?; great directors at work: André Téchiné, Scorsese, the Coen Bros, Ang Lee; a musical based on Fellini's 8 1/2 by the guy who made Chicago; and as always, movie stars: Audrey Tatou, Kevin Kline; Rob't Downey Jr.
If anyone knows an electronic genius grandchild willing to freely donate time to improve our website, all help would be greatly appreciated.
That's about it. As soon as I'm locked down, I'll be back to you.
peter
***
In The Loop
August 21
US President and UK Prime Minister want war. Not everyone agrees. US General Miller doesn't think so and neither does the British Secretary of State, Simon Foster. But, after Simon accidentally backs military action on TV, he has a lot of friends in Washington, DC. If Simon can get in with the right DC people, if his entourage of one can sleep with the right intern, and if they can both stop the Prime Minister's chief spin-doctor Malcolm Tucker rigging the vote at the UN, they can halt the war. If they don't... well, they can always fire their Director of Communications Judy, who they never liked anyway and who's back home dealing with voters with blocked drains and a man who's angry about a collapsing wall.
The jokes are rapid fire - The West Wing mashed with The Office as miscues between American and British governments accelerate the march to a war in the Middle East.
***
Taking Woodstock
August 28
Ang Lee amazes audiences with his incredible range. This time, it's Woodstock. There should be little doubt he’ll pull it off,
***I hope you all have enjoyed a summer of the sneaks, and two in particular, Everlasting Moments and Tetro. Wonderful movies. I have not written in a while, and here's why:
As you know, I wanted to take the summer hiatus to develop a more imaginative brand of movieclub, one building on our experiences of last spring. I wanted to change our website, figure out how to bring in more filmmaker guests, build the membership, find a way to work closer with Quebec distributors and their marketing people. I wanted to change the name as well: my best so far is Le Movieclub, which seems available, and strikes a right note to my ear. What do you think? I also want to introduce more of the terrific films that we missed.
We've also had a series of conversations with lots of people. All suggestions are gratefully received, so if you have ideas, let us know. Nothing has yet been etched in stone, but things are moving, and as soon as I can, I will announce all I know. I'm still targeting us getting back to screening the best of the new movies by mid-September.
For example, I know an increasing number of you are game to review upcoming movies in the press previews. Which is great. But how about this? Instead of just one of us, writing up the movie, how about three, or five, offering different perspectives? We'd publish them all on the site. Or - instead of us just blogging the movie we're screening on the upcoming movie, why not screen & blog every interesting film that opens, and then blog it as well.
Here are some other ideas: electronically, Lynn Verge has introduced me to Gerald Clarke, a Judy Garland biographer who lives in Montreal, and so I want to explore whether we can get a copy of A Star is Born. Then invite Mr. Clarke to come talk to us. This is the 20th anniversary of Space Odyssey 2001, and I'd like to bring Keir Dullea to Montreal to talk of it with us.
To those of you with friends interested in joining us, forward to them this note, have them send me an email, and I'll include them on the mailing list. In a couple of weeks, I'll send out a notice, enabling all those who want in, to get in.
One last reminder: I'm speaking at the Atwater Library's lunch lecture series on September 9th about the movieclub and how we've learned to look at movies differently in the 21st century. Come if you're interested. It's free. And I'd appreciate the support.
In the meantime, scroll down for a teaser to tantilize you: a list I've patched together for my own purposes of possible upcoming movies, slated to open in Montreal this fall. Some don't have dates. Some don't seem to have distributors attached. Ang Lee is making a movie called “Taking Woodstock,” about, you guessed it, Woodstock. Finally, there is James Cameron’s long, long awaited “Avatar.
A caveat: distributor info is always somewhat shaky. Still, one way or another, these movies will all probably get here, one day or another. Biopics of Coco Chanel, Amelia Earhart, Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin and John Keats - how about that?; great directors at work: André Téchiné, Scorsese, the Coen Bros, Ang Lee; a musical based on Fellini's 8 1/2 by the guy who made Chicago; and as always, movie stars: Audrey Tatou, Kevin Kline; Rob't Downey Jr.
If anyone knows an electronic genius grandchild willing to freely donate time to improve our website, all help would be greatly appreciated.
That's about it. As soon as I'm locked down, I'll be back to you.
peter
***
In The Loop
August 21
US President and UK Prime Minister want war. Not everyone agrees. US General Miller doesn't think so and neither does the British Secretary of State, Simon Foster. But, after Simon accidentally backs military action on TV, he has a lot of friends in Washington, DC. If Simon can get in with the right DC people, if his entourage of one can sleep with the right intern, and if they can both stop the Prime Minister's chief spin-doctor Malcolm Tucker rigging the vote at the UN, they can halt the war. If they don't... well, they can always fire their Director of Communications Judy, who they never liked anyway and who's back home dealing with voters with blocked drains and a man who's angry about a collapsing wall.
The jokes are rapid fire - The West Wing mashed with The Office as miscues between American and British governments accelerate the march to a war in the Middle East.
***
Taking Woodstock
August 28
Ang Lee amazes audiences with his incredible range. This time, it's Woodstock. There should be little doubt he’ll pull it off,
La Joueuse
September 4
(Metropole) Kevin Kline stars in his first all French-speaking role, with Sandrine Bonnaire and Jennifer Beals in Caroline Bottaro’s drama “Joueuse (Queen to Play).” The story focuses on Bonnaire, a maid captivated by a romantic couple p
laying chess while staying at the Mediterranean island hotel. A doctor (Kline) whose house she cleans reluctantly becomes her mentor in the game, leading her to a chess tournament and initiating major transformations in her life.
First-time feature director Bottaro adapted the screenplay from Bertina Henrichs’ novel “The Chess Player.”Filming begins Tuesday on the isle of Corsica. Then, shooting proceeds to Paris..
***
The Rebound ? (Cineac)
September 18
I'm not too sure about this one. Cathwrine Zeta- Jones is an up-to-date Mrs. Robinson, seducing a twenty-five year old man. This seems notionally idiotic to me as a movie premise. Mind you, I'm 71. What 25 year old could resist that? Or 71 year old as well?
***
La Fille Du RER (The Girl on the Train)
(Metropole) André Téchiné, starring Catherine Deneuve and Michel Blanc
André Téchiné’s newest film, a combination topical expose and sophisticated melodrama, uses a real-life case where Alice (Emilie Dequenne), a girl from a suburb outside Paris lied about being the victim of a bias attack. Téchiné takes the emotional pulse of hate crimes and finds a love story from the uniquely expansive—and inquiring—point of view.Téchiné is France’s most fascinating contemporary filmmaker. (Pauline s'en va; He belongs to a second generation of critics associated with Cahiers du cinéma who followed Truffaut, Chabrol, Godard and into film-making. Téchiné's elegant and emotionally charged films often delve into the complexities of human condition and emotions.
The first sight of Alice rollerskating through the streets, thick curly hair surrounding her stolid face, presents a “normal” Téchiné youth—complex, enigmatic, hypersensitive to the world. Alice’s place in the universe, and her politically incorrect actions, recall the troubled boy in the 1987 Scene of the Crime where Téchiné evoked the template of Great Expectations to explore how one character’s fortune linked to and revealed a larger, social view of destiny.
***
Coco Before Chanel - September 25
(Vivafilm - Alliance) Starring Audrey Tatou. Directed by Anne Fontaine. Coco Before Chanel is the story of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, a headstrong orphan, who became the legendary couturier who embodied the modern woman and became a timeless symbol of success, freedom and style. The film portrays the formative years of Chanel's life, the years of Chanel spent discovering and inventing herself.
***
The Informant
September 18 (Warners)
We knew that Soderbergh had yet another movie coming out in 2009 (after Ché and The Girlfriend Experience), a big dark comic thriller starring Matt Damon, based on the true story of the highest-ranking corporate whistleblower in U.S. history.Kurt Eichenwald's 2000 nonfiction book about price-fixing in the agri-business industry. Damon stars as Mark Whitacre, an executive who works with the FBI to blow the whistle on his corrupt employers and falls prey to his own fraudulent dealings and a wicked bi-polar disorder. In this economy, a wicked, corporate-skewing black comedy could do HUGE business, and Soderbergh's last industry expose, Erin Brockovich, was one of his best.
What was Mark Whitacre thinking? A rising star at agri-industry giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Whitacre suddenly turns whistleblower. Even as he exposes his company's multi-national price-fixing to the FBI, Whitacre envisions himself being hailed as a hero of the common man and handed a promotion. Whitacre agrees to wear a wire and carry a hidden tape recorder in his briefcase, imagining himself as a de facto secret agent. Whitacre's ever-changing account frustrates the agents and threatens the case against ADM as it becomes almost impossible to decipher what is real and what is the product of Whitacre's rambling imagination. Playing at the Toronto Festival.
***
Creation - September 24 (to be confirmed)
What happens when a world-renowned scientist, crushed by the loss of his eldest daughter, conceives a book which will prove the non-existence of God. This is the story of Charles Darwin and his master-work The Origin of Species. It tells of a global revolution played out the confines of a small English village; a passionate marriage torn apart by the most dangerous idea in history; and a theory saved from extinction by the logic of a child.
TV Director, Jon Amiel's newest feature, a film about Charles Darwin, will open the 34th Toronto Film Festival, Sept. 10. This intimate look at Darwin puts a human face on a man whose theory remains controversial to this day. Produced by Jeremy Thomas, the bio-pic stars actor Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly playing his wife 'Emma'. The screenplay by John Collee adapts the book "Annie's Box," written by Darwin's great-great-grandson Randal Keynes.
***
The Invention of Lying
September 25 (Warner)
http://www.rickygervais.com/thissideofthetruth.php
The Cast
A lavish profusion of comedic and dramatic talents, including...
Jason Bateman
Jennifer Garner
Rob Lowe
Jonah Hill
Tina Fey
Louis C.K.
Jeffrey Tambor
Patrick Stewart
Christopher Guest
John Hodgman
***
Shutter Island
October 2nd (Paramount)
Martin Scorsese psychological thriller/drama based on a book from Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone) starring DiCaprio, Michelle Williams.
***
BIUTIFUL –Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s follow-up to 2006 Best Picture nominee “Babel.” stars Javier Bardem, a criminal confronted by a childhood friend, who also happens to be a police officer. Inarritu’s talent was apparent in “Babel” and his insight into the human condition should only improve with each film.
***
A Serious Man
October 2 Vivafilm
(Alliance) The Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel write, direct and produce an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she has fallen in love with one of his more pompous colleagues, Sy Ableman, a more substantial person than the feckless Larry.
Larry's unemployable brother Arthur is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny is a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah is filching money in order to save up for a nose job. While his wife and Sy Ableman make new domestic arrangements, his brother becomes more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry's chances for tenure. A graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. A beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person; a mensch, a serious man? The Coens dug deep into the local Jewish community here for supporting parts and extras, but even their leads - Richard Kind and Michael Stuhlbarg - are mostly recognizable by face alone.
***
Cairo Time
October 9
(Metropole) Juliette (Patricia Clarkson) is a Canadian magazine editor who arrives in Cairo for a vacation with her long-time husband (Tom McCamus), a UN official working in Gaza. Delayed, her husband asks his friend—a handsome Egyptian named Tareq (Alexander Siddig)—to watch over Juliette. Juliette finds herself falling in love not only with the city but with Tareq. From the surprise of men-only cafes, to the aroma of a hookah pipe, to the expanse of the Nile, the film captures the seductive charm of Cairo.
Canadian Connection: The director and some cast members are Canadian. Go after Clarkson, if possible.
***
Bright Star
September 18 (?).
(TVA) The three-year romance between 19th century poet, John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats' untimely death at age 25. Abbie Cornish's performance as Fanny Brawne and Ben Whishaw's performance as the poet John Keats were highly praised out of the Cannes Film Festival. The film depicts the doomed three-year love affair between the two.
Directed and written by New Zealander, Jane Campion (The Piano), it is already being looked at as a serious Oscar contender.
***
Capitalism: A Love Story
October 2
(Alliance) Michael Moore is up to his same old schtick. An anti-capitalist documentary by a rich capitalist. The bankers, the congress, Micchael Moore even, all claim they do it for your own good. Enjoy the show, suckers!Capoitalism is his bulls-eye. Here's how he describes it:
It’s a crime story. But it’s also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper 1 percent feeding off the rest of us. And, of course, it’s also a love story. Only it’s about an abusive relationship.
“It’s not about an individual, like Roger Smith, or a corporation, or even an issue, like health care. This is the big enchilada. This is about the thing that dominates all our lives — the economy. I made this movie as if it was going to be the last movie I was allowed to make.
“It’s a comedy.”
***
5150 Rue Des Ormes
October 9th
Réalisation : Éric Tessier
Scénarisation : Patrick Senécal avec la participation d’Éric Tessier
Production : Pierre Even, Josée Vallée / Cirrus
Distribution : Marc-André Grondin, Normand D'Amour, Sonia Vachon, Mylène St-Sauveur.
(Vivafilm) Film Quebecois. When Yannick fell off his bike, he knocked at the door of the Beaulieu residence so he could clean the blood off his hands. But Jack Beaulieu and his family had other plans for Ian. Beaulieu is a righteous psychopath and fanatic chess player who wants to rid the world of evil. And even though Ian has done nothing wrong, he is beaten, tortured and tormented before Beaulieu makes him an offer: win at chess and he is free to go. And so Ian is now a pawn in Beaulieu 's game. A game in which he will either lose his mind or his life.
***
Léo Huff
October 16th
(Seville) Sylvan Guy thriller. Not much is known of this from the director of La Liste Noire, a wonderful Qc. thriller. Canadian Connection: Sylvan Guy and some cast members are Canadian. Go after Guy, if possible.
***
Where the Wild Things Are
October 16th
(Warner)Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book, "Where the Wild Things Are," drawing ever closer, the promo swag faucet is starting to flow. The package contained a copy of Sendak's book and a spiffy new poster featuring a very minimalist design.
***
The Road
October 16
(Vivafilm) Based on the 2006 novel upcoming movie adaptation of the novel of the same name written by Cormac McCarthy.A father and his son walk through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and, when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing: just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food–and each other. Actor Viggo Mortensen will mesmerize us in his embodiment of the father. An Education
***
October 23
(Metropole) A Nick Hornby (About A Boy, Fever Pitch, High Fidelity) script. Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina (again!), Emma Thompson, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper. Every journalist at Sundance left raving about Mulligan, and the movie itself to boot. It might be the little indie to look out for.
The story of a teenage girl's coming-of-age set in 1961 London, a city caught between the drab, post-war 1950s and the glam liberated decade to come. Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a brilliantly witty and attractive 16-year-old, stands on the brink of becoming a woman. Just as Jenny's parents (Alfred Molina) and Cara Seymour) long-held dream of getting their brilliant daughter into Oxford seems within reach, Jenny is tempted by another kind of life: Urbane and witty, David introduces Jenny to a glittering world of classical concerts and late-night suppers with his attractive friend and business partner, Danny (Dominic Cooper) and Danny's girlfriend, the vacuous Helen (Rosamund Pike). Carey Mulligan gives off a Breakfast at Tiffanys-esque charm.
***
Amelia
October 23 (?)
Mira Nair (The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding) directs, Hilary Swank shoots for Oscar number three playing legendary aviatrix, Amelia Earhart in the formative stages of her career, her marriage to publisher George Putnam (Richard Gere), her passionate affair with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor), father of author Gore Vidal. Putnam was engaged by society denizen Amy Guest to set up a daring nonstop flight across the Atlantic. When Guest was talked out of becoming the first woman to make the trip, Putnam turned the flight into a media event.
***
Demain Dès Aubes (Tomorrow at Dawn)
October 30
(Metropole) From this year's Cannes Festival. Tensions within historical role players lead to real duels, and more. Mathieu Guibert, a classical pianist undergoing an "existential crisis" -- as his estranged wife-cum-agent, Jeanne calls it He gets drawn into a duel with a guy who takes his alias as a captain way too seriously. Dercourt, once a professional violist, classical music is extensively featured.
***
Oscar et La Dame Rose
nd 2009
Director : Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
Coproduction : Cinémaginaire
Cast : Michèle Laroque, Max Von Sydow, Amir, Benoit Brière
A Canadian co-pro - Denise Robert). These are the letters of Oscar, a boy of ten addressed to God, are found by 'Mamie Rose', who visits him in hospital in the pink uniform worn by nurses on the children's ward. The letters describe twelve days in the life of Oscar and are filled with funny, moving characters. These twelve days may be his last, but thanks to Mamie Rose, who forms a close and affectionate bond with Oscar, they are to become legendary.
***
Precious
November 6.
Sundance’s biggest hit this year, presented by Oprah and Tyler Perry and the trailer features uplifting music in spite of the unhappy, painful, empty life. Everyone who’s seen it has done nothing but lavish heaps of praise on it and there’s a good chance that come Oscar season you’ll hear at least some buzz. Watch the movie’s trailer in high-res over at Oprah.com.
Director Lee Daniels tackles "Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire" that sets a new standard for cinema of its kind. Precious Jones (Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe) is a high-school girl with nothing working in her favor. She is pregnant with her father's child - for the second time. She can't read or write, and her schoolmates tease her for being fat. Her home life is a horror, ruled by a mother (Mo'Nique) who keeps her imprisoned both emotionally and physically. Precious's instincts tell her one thing: if she's ever going to break from the chains of ignorance, she will have to dig deeply into her own resources. Don't be misled - "Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire" is not a film wallowing in the stillness of depression; instead, it vibrates with the kind of energy derived only from anger and hope. The entire cast are amazing; they carry out a firestorm of raw emotion. Daniels has drawn from them inimitable performances that will rivet you to your seat and leave you too shocked to breathe. If you passed Precious on the street, you probably wouldn't notice her. But when her story is revealed, as Daniels does in this courageous film, you are left with an indelible image of a young woman who - with creativity, humor, and ferocity - finds the strength to turn her life around. Winner of the Dramatic Grand Jury and Audience Award Prizes for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
***
The Young Victoria
November 13 2009
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
: Emily Bunt, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson
Directed by Quebecois, Jean-Marc Vallée (maybe we'll get him as our guest), Emily Blunt delivers a stunning performance as Queen Victoria in the turbulent first years of her reign. Rupert Friend (Pride & Prejudice) portrays Prince Albert, the suitor who wins her heart and becomes her partner in this spectacular romance.
***
Nine
November 25
(Alliance) From L to R: Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Day Lewis and Kate Hudson
- The last time that director Rob Marshall was paired with a musical - Chicago - it resulted in 13 Oscar nominations. Nine, a lavish movie adaptation of the 1982 Tony-winning musical based on Federico Fellini's classic film 8 1/2. Even if you don't consider Marshall's Chicago experience, you can't ignore the appeal of a script by The Player's Michael Tolkin and a cast that makes your eyes water. ANYTHING starring Daniel Day-Lewis is probably going to be great - he really is probably the best actor of his generation - and the pedigree of his female supporting cast is impeccable. We're most excited to see La Vie en Rose's Marion Cotillard again, and the idea of watching Judi Dench and Sophia Loren belt out showtunes makes Nine almost impossible to ignore or resist.
Daniel Day-Lewis ... Guido Contini
Marion Cotillard ... Luisa Contini
Penelope Cruz ... Carla Albanese
Judi Dench ... Liliane La Fleur
Nicole Kidman ... Claudia Nardi
Kate Hudson ... Stephanie Necrophuros
Sophia Loren ... Mamma
Stacy Ferguson ... Saraghina
***
Love & Savagery
TBD
(Metropole)John N. Smith's story of passion, fate, and the consequences of the two. In 1968, Newfoundland geologist and poet, Michael McCarthy, travels to Ballyvaughan to examine the “Burren” a geological wonder. There he meets Cathleen, a beautiful woman who captures his heart, but because of the path she chose when she was young she cannot allow him to capture hers. Savagery erupts when Michael’s persistence collides with the townspeople’s hostility toward a foreigner’s attempt to intervene with divinity. Cathleen has to choose between a desire that she has recently discovered and a desire that she has felt throughout most of her life. Which will she choose? The love of a man, or the love of God? Can she love both? Is she strong enough to make the right choice?
***
Up in the Air
tbd
From Jason Reitman, director of Juno, comes Up in the Air starring George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a corporate hatchet man who loves life on the road but is forced to fight for his job when his company downsizes its travel budget.
Most travelers disdain airports, long flights and bland, standardized hotels - not Ryan Bingham. The career transition counselor—spends his time in transit, in the place he calls “Airworld.” He loves it. “Airworld is a nation within a nation,” Ryan says, “with its own language, architecture, mood and even its own currency—the token economy of airline bonus miles that I’ve come to value more than dollars. Inflation doesn’t degrade them. They’re not taxed. They’re private property in its purest form.” Ryan’s chief goal in life is to accumulate one million frequent-flyer miles, something, on a smaller scale, any traveler can appreciate.
Up In the Air has served as a title of seven different movies, going back to 1915.
***
The Boys Are Back
tbd
A moving, wryly confessional Australian tale of fatherhood, that intimately evokes both the fragility and wonders of family life. It follows a witty, wisecracking, action-oriented sportswriter, who, in the wake of his wife's death, finds himself in a sudden, stultifying state of single parenthood. With turbulent emotions swirling just below the surface, Joe Warr throws himself into the only child-rearing philosophy he thinks has a shot at bringing joy back into their lives: "just says yes." Raising two boys - a curious six year-old and a rebel teen from a previous marriage -- in a household devoid of feminine influence, and with an unabashed lack of rules, life becomes exuberant, instinctual, reckless . . . and on the constant verge of disaster. United by unspoken love, conflicted by fierce feelings and in search of a road forward, the three multi-generational boys of the Warr household, father and sons alike, must each find their own way, however tenuous, to grow up. Their story is not just about the transforming power of a family crisis -- but the unavoidable grace of everyday life and love that gets them through. Academy Award® nominee Scott Hicks (Shine) directs based on the acclaimed 2001 memoir by Simon Carr Shot on location in the stunning countryside of South Australia, the film is produced by Greg Brenman ("Billy Elliot") and Tim White ("Ned Kelly"). The executive producers are Peter Bennett-Jones and Clive Owen.
***
Invictus
December 11.
Written by native South African writer Anthony Peckham, based upon the book "Playing the Enemy," by John Carlin and tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa's rugby team (Matt Damon) to help unite their country. Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.
Invictus is sure to be an awards contender, just as most any Eastwood film is lately and Warner Bros. continues to give his features prime award season placement. Taking a look at Eastwood's last six films results in 22 Oscar nominations, which includes seven wins. If you take Gran Torino out of the picture, those 22 nominations are actually credited to only five films. To say I see nominations for Damon and Freeman in the future would be an understatement, not to mention the potential for even more awards
Eastwood is adept at darker, personal stories (Million Dollar Baby” and “Gran Torino)
***
The Tempest
As film director, Julie Taymor does things big. The spellbinding puppetmaster (Mozart's Magic Flute with the Metropolitan Opera + Broadway's The Lion King) has directed three films, every one a spectacle. 1) Titus, her gigantic, bloody take on Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, with Jessica Lange and Anthony Hopkins; 2) Frida, the Frida Kahlo biography starring Salma Hayek, a film as amazingly lively and colorful as Kahlo’s work itself. (a svelte 2 hours, 3 minutes); 3) Across the Universe, a literal take on Beatles lyrics.
Now, her filmed version of The Tempest with Helen Mirren (The Queen), Alfred Molina, David Strathairn, Chris Cooper, Tom Conti and Alan Cumming. Prospero is now Prospera, usurped by her brother and sent off with her four-year daughter on a ship. She ends up on an island; it's a tabula rasa: no society, so the mother figure becomes a father figure to Miranda, leading to the power struggle between Caliban and Prospera; a struggle not about brawn, but about intellect. Whew.
***
Brothers
December 4
Jim Sheridan's film (In America, In the Name of the Father) about a man who comforts the wife of his brother who leaves for war in Afghanistan, stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, and Tobey McGuire, three fine young talents in Hollywood.
***
The Lovely Bones - December 11.
(Paramount) Going head-to-head against Clint Eastwood's Invictis. Peter Jackson and the team behind the Lord of the Rings movies - returns with the adaptation of Alice Sebold's sad, sweet bestseller The Lovely Bones, a story of Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl, raped and murdered, who watches her family (and her killer) from Heaven as they move on following her death. In a tone both emotionally truthful, and darkly humorous, Susie tries to balance vengeance against the love she feels for her family and her need to see them heal; and ultimately comes to understand that family encompasses both the living and the dead.
Hollywood was quick to adapt the novel, but that a director best known for Hobbits and Orcs got the job. However, anyone familiar with Jackson's 1994 drama Heavenly Creatures (a true story of teen obsession and murder starring Kate Winslet) would immediately recognize Jackson as an eerily perfect choice to direct The Lovely Bones. Heavenly Creatures proved that Jackson and Fran Walsh know how to write teenage girls, and the more fantastic elements of the novel couldn't be in better hands. Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz play the parents. Stanley Tucci plays the killer in hiding.
***
Broken Embraces
December 18
(Metropole) Pedro Almodóvar's "Broken Embraces" is a four–way tale of amour–fou, shot in the style of ‘50s American film noir at its most hard–boiled,mixing references to Nicholas Ray’s In a Lonely Place and Vincente Minnelli’s The Bad and the Beautiful, with Almodóvar fascination with the mystery of creation, guilt, unscrupulous power, the eternal search of fathers for sons, and sons for fathers.
Penelope Cruz, Lluis Homar of Bad Education and Blanca Portilla of Volver join the cast.
***
Agora - December 18 -
A sand and sandals epic, “According to IMDb, an historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning a slave (Max Minghella) who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hopes of pursuing freedom while also falling in love with his master (Rachel Weisz), the famous female philosophy professor and atheist Hypatia of Alexandria.” Set in Roman Egypt in the fourth century A.D., Rachel Weisz plays astrologer-philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, who fights to save the collected wisdom of the ancient world. Her slave Davus is torn between his love for his mistress and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity.
***
December 25
(Warner) Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Kelly Reilly. Action/Adventure Mystery. In a dynamic new portrayal of Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous characters, "Sherlock Holmes" sends Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson on their latest challenge. Revealing fighting skills as lethal as his legendary intellect, Holmes will battle as never before to bring down a new nemesis and unravel a deadly plot that could destroy the country.
Robert Downey Jr. is a tough, sword-flourishing Holmes, Jude Law as an even tougher, no-nonsense Watson in Guy Ritchie (Mr. Madonna)’s ‘reimagining’ of the ultimate sleuth. Based on Lionel Wigram’s comic book about the consulting detective rather than directly upon Conan Doyle’s books, the film also features Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler, the captivating femme fatale introduced in an 1891 Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia.
***
September 4
(Metropole) Kevin Kline stars in his first all French-speaking role, with Sandrine Bonnaire and Jennifer Beals in Caroline Bottaro’s drama “Joueuse (Queen to Play).” The story focuses on Bonnaire, a maid captivated by a romantic couple p
laying chess while staying at the Mediterranean island hotel. A doctor (Kline) whose house she cleans reluctantly becomes her mentor in the game, leading her to a chess tournament and initiating major transformations in her life.First-time feature director Bottaro adapted the screenplay from Bertina Henrichs’ novel “The Chess Player.”Filming begins Tuesday on the isle of Corsica. Then, shooting proceeds to Paris..
***
The Rebound ? (Cineac)
September 18
I'm not too sure about this one. Cathwrine Zeta- Jones is an up-to-date Mrs. Robinson, seducing a twenty-five year old man. This seems notionally idiotic to me as a movie premise. Mind you, I'm 71. What 25 year old could resist that? Or 71 year old as well?
***
La Fille Du RER (The Girl on the Train)
(Metropole) André Téchiné, starring Catherine Deneuve and Michel Blanc
André Téchiné’s newest film, a combination topical expose and sophisticated melodrama, uses a real-life case where Alice (Emilie Dequenne), a girl from a suburb outside Paris lied about being the victim of a bias attack. Téchiné takes the emotional pulse of hate crimes and finds a love story from the uniquely expansive—and inquiring—point of view.Téchiné is France’s most fascinating contemporary filmmaker. (Pauline s'en va; He belongs to a second generation of critics associated with Cahiers du cinéma who followed Truffaut, Chabrol, Godard and into film-making. Téchiné's elegant and emotionally charged films often delve into the complexities of human condition and emotions.
The first sight of Alice rollerskating through the streets, thick curly hair surrounding her stolid face, presents a “normal” Téchiné youth—complex, enigmatic, hypersensitive to the world. Alice’s place in the universe, and her politically incorrect actions, recall the troubled boy in the 1987 Scene of the Crime where Téchiné evoked the template of Great Expectations to explore how one character’s fortune linked to and revealed a larger, social view of destiny.
***
Coco Before Chanel - September 25
(Vivafilm - Alliance) Starring Audrey Tatou. Directed by Anne Fontaine. Coco Before Chanel is the story of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, a headstrong orphan, who became the legendary couturier who embodied the modern woman and became a timeless symbol of success, freedom and style. The film portrays the formative years of Chanel's life, the years of Chanel spent discovering and inventing herself.
***
The Informant
September 18 (Warners)
We knew that Soderbergh had yet another movie coming out in 2009 (after Ché and The Girlfriend Experience), a big dark comic thriller starring Matt Damon, based on the true story of the highest-ranking corporate whistleblower in U.S. history.Kurt Eichenwald's 2000 nonfiction book about price-fixing in the agri-business industry. Damon stars as Mark Whitacre, an executive who works with the FBI to blow the whistle on his corrupt employers and falls prey to his own fraudulent dealings and a wicked bi-polar disorder. In this economy, a wicked, corporate-skewing black comedy could do HUGE business, and Soderbergh's last industry expose, Erin Brockovich, was one of his best.
What was Mark Whitacre thinking? A rising star at agri-industry giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Whitacre suddenly turns whistleblower. Even as he exposes his company's multi-national price-fixing to the FBI, Whitacre envisions himself being hailed as a hero of the common man and handed a promotion. Whitacre agrees to wear a wire and carry a hidden tape recorder in his briefcase, imagining himself as a de facto secret agent. Whitacre's ever-changing account frustrates the agents and threatens the case against ADM as it becomes almost impossible to decipher what is real and what is the product of Whitacre's rambling imagination. Playing at the Toronto Festival.
***
Creation - September 24 (to be confirmed)
What happens when a world-renowned scientist, crushed by the loss of his eldest daughter, conceives a book which will prove the non-existence of God. This is the story of Charles Darwin and his master-work The Origin of Species. It tells of a global revolution played out the confines of a small English village; a passionate marriage torn apart by the most dangerous idea in history; and a theory saved from extinction by the logic of a child.
TV Director, Jon Amiel's newest feature, a film about Charles Darwin, will open the 34th Toronto Film Festival, Sept. 10. This intimate look at Darwin puts a human face on a man whose theory remains controversial to this day. Produced by Jeremy Thomas, the bio-pic stars actor Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly playing his wife 'Emma'. The screenplay by John Collee adapts the book "Annie's Box," written by Darwin's great-great-grandson Randal Keynes.
***
The Invention of Lying
September 25 (Warner)
http://www.rickygervais.com/thissideofthetruth.php
The Cast
A lavish profusion of comedic and dramatic talents, including...
Jason Bateman
Jennifer Garner
Rob Lowe
Jonah Hill
Tina Fey
Louis C.K.
Jeffrey Tambor
Patrick Stewart
Christopher Guest
John Hodgman
***
Shutter Island
October 2nd (Paramount)
Martin Scorsese psychological thriller/drama based on a book from Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone) starring DiCaprio, Michelle Williams.
***
BIUTIFUL –Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s follow-up to 2006 Best Picture nominee “Babel.” stars Javier Bardem, a criminal confronted by a childhood friend, who also happens to be a police officer. Inarritu’s talent was apparent in “Babel” and his insight into the human condition should only improve with each film.
***
A Serious Man
October 2 Vivafilm
(Alliance) The Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel write, direct and produce an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she has fallen in love with one of his more pompous colleagues, Sy Ableman, a more substantial person than the feckless Larry.
Larry's unemployable brother Arthur is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny is a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah is filching money in order to save up for a nose job. While his wife and Sy Ableman make new domestic arrangements, his brother becomes more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry's chances for tenure. A graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. A beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person; a mensch, a serious man? The Coens dug deep into the local Jewish community here for supporting parts and extras, but even their leads - Richard Kind and Michael Stuhlbarg - are mostly recognizable by face alone.
***
Cairo Time
October 9
(Metropole) Juliette (Patricia Clarkson) is a Canadian magazine editor who arrives in Cairo for a vacation with her long-time husband (Tom McCamus), a UN official working in Gaza. Delayed, her husband asks his friend—a handsome Egyptian named Tareq (Alexander Siddig)—to watch over Juliette. Juliette finds herself falling in love not only with the city but with Tareq. From the surprise of men-only cafes, to the aroma of a hookah pipe, to the expanse of the Nile, the film captures the seductive charm of Cairo.
Canadian Connection: The director and some cast members are Canadian. Go after Clarkson, if possible.
***
Bright Star
September 18 (?).
(TVA) The three-year romance between 19th century poet, John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats' untimely death at age 25. Abbie Cornish's performance as Fanny Brawne and Ben Whishaw's performance as the poet John Keats were highly praised out of the Cannes Film Festival. The film depicts the doomed three-year love affair between the two.
Directed and written by New Zealander, Jane Campion (The Piano), it is already being looked at as a serious Oscar contender.
***
Capitalism: A Love Story
October 2
(Alliance) Michael Moore is up to his same old schtick. An anti-capitalist documentary by a rich capitalist. The bankers, the congress, Micchael Moore even, all claim they do it for your own good. Enjoy the show, suckers!Capoitalism is his bulls-eye. Here's how he describes it:
It’s a crime story. But it’s also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper 1 percent feeding off the rest of us. And, of course, it’s also a love story. Only it’s about an abusive relationship.
“It’s not about an individual, like Roger Smith, or a corporation, or even an issue, like health care. This is the big enchilada. This is about the thing that dominates all our lives — the economy. I made this movie as if it was going to be the last movie I was allowed to make.
“It’s a comedy.”
***
5150 Rue Des Ormes
October 9th
Réalisation : Éric Tessier
Scénarisation : Patrick Senécal avec la participation d’Éric Tessier
Production : Pierre Even, Josée Vallée / Cirrus
Distribution : Marc-André Grondin, Normand D'Amour, Sonia Vachon, Mylène St-Sauveur.
(Vivafilm) Film Quebecois. When Yannick fell off his bike, he knocked at the door of the Beaulieu residence so he could clean the blood off his hands. But Jack Beaulieu and his family had other plans for Ian. Beaulieu is a righteous psychopath and fanatic chess player who wants to rid the world of evil. And even though Ian has done nothing wrong, he is beaten, tortured and tormented before Beaulieu makes him an offer: win at chess and he is free to go. And so Ian is now a pawn in Beaulieu 's game. A game in which he will either lose his mind or his life.
***
Léo Huff
October 16th
(Seville) Sylvan Guy thriller. Not much is known of this from the director of La Liste Noire, a wonderful Qc. thriller. Canadian Connection: Sylvan Guy and some cast members are Canadian. Go after Guy, if possible.
***
Where the Wild Things Are
October 16th
(Warner)Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book, "Where the Wild Things Are," drawing ever closer, the promo swag faucet is starting to flow. The package contained a copy of Sendak's book and a spiffy new poster featuring a very minimalist design.
***
The Road
October 16
(Vivafilm) Based on the 2006 novel upcoming movie adaptation of the novel of the same name written by Cormac McCarthy.A father and his son walk through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and, when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing: just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food–and each other. Actor Viggo Mortensen will mesmerize us in his embodiment of the father. An Education
***
October 23
(Metropole) A Nick Hornby (About A Boy, Fever Pitch, High Fidelity) script. Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina (again!), Emma Thompson, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper. Every journalist at Sundance left raving about Mulligan, and the movie itself to boot. It might be the little indie to look out for.
The story of a teenage girl's coming-of-age set in 1961 London, a city caught between the drab, post-war 1950s and the glam liberated decade to come. Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a brilliantly witty and attractive 16-year-old, stands on the brink of becoming a woman. Just as Jenny's parents (Alfred Molina) and Cara Seymour) long-held dream of getting their brilliant daughter into Oxford seems within reach, Jenny is tempted by another kind of life: Urbane and witty, David introduces Jenny to a glittering world of classical concerts and late-night suppers with his attractive friend and business partner, Danny (Dominic Cooper) and Danny's girlfriend, the vacuous Helen (Rosamund Pike). Carey Mulligan gives off a Breakfast at Tiffanys-esque charm.
***
Amelia
October 23 (?)
Mira Nair (The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding) directs, Hilary Swank shoots for Oscar number three playing legendary aviatrix, Amelia Earhart in the formative stages of her career, her marriage to publisher George Putnam (Richard Gere), her passionate affair with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor), father of author Gore Vidal. Putnam was engaged by society denizen Amy Guest to set up a daring nonstop flight across the Atlantic. When Guest was talked out of becoming the first woman to make the trip, Putnam turned the flight into a media event.
***
Demain Dès Aubes (Tomorrow at Dawn)
October 30
(Metropole) From this year's Cannes Festival. Tensions within historical role players lead to real duels, and more. Mathieu Guibert, a classical pianist undergoing an "existential crisis" -- as his estranged wife-cum-agent, Jeanne calls it He gets drawn into a duel with a guy who takes his alias as a captain way too seriously. Dercourt, once a professional violist, classical music is extensively featured.
***
Oscar et La Dame Rose
nd 2009
Director : Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
Coproduction : Cinémaginaire
Cast : Michèle Laroque, Max Von Sydow, Amir, Benoit Brière
A Canadian co-pro - Denise Robert). These are the letters of Oscar, a boy of ten addressed to God, are found by 'Mamie Rose', who visits him in hospital in the pink uniform worn by nurses on the children's ward. The letters describe twelve days in the life of Oscar and are filled with funny, moving characters. These twelve days may be his last, but thanks to Mamie Rose, who forms a close and affectionate bond with Oscar, they are to become legendary.
***
Precious
November 6.
Sundance’s biggest hit this year, presented by Oprah and Tyler Perry and the trailer features uplifting music in spite of the unhappy, painful, empty life. Everyone who’s seen it has done nothing but lavish heaps of praise on it and there’s a good chance that come Oscar season you’ll hear at least some buzz. Watch the movie’s trailer in high-res over at Oprah.com.
Director Lee Daniels tackles "Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire" that sets a new standard for cinema of its kind. Precious Jones (Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe) is a high-school girl with nothing working in her favor. She is pregnant with her father's child - for the second time. She can't read or write, and her schoolmates tease her for being fat. Her home life is a horror, ruled by a mother (Mo'Nique) who keeps her imprisoned both emotionally and physically. Precious's instincts tell her one thing: if she's ever going to break from the chains of ignorance, she will have to dig deeply into her own resources. Don't be misled - "Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire" is not a film wallowing in the stillness of depression; instead, it vibrates with the kind of energy derived only from anger and hope. The entire cast are amazing; they carry out a firestorm of raw emotion. Daniels has drawn from them inimitable performances that will rivet you to your seat and leave you too shocked to breathe. If you passed Precious on the street, you probably wouldn't notice her. But when her story is revealed, as Daniels does in this courageous film, you are left with an indelible image of a young woman who - with creativity, humor, and ferocity - finds the strength to turn her life around. Winner of the Dramatic Grand Jury and Audience Award Prizes for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
***
The Young Victoria
November 13 2009
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
: Emily Bunt, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson
Directed by Quebecois, Jean-Marc Vallée (maybe we'll get him as our guest), Emily Blunt delivers a stunning performance as Queen Victoria in the turbulent first years of her reign. Rupert Friend (Pride & Prejudice) portrays Prince Albert, the suitor who wins her heart and becomes her partner in this spectacular romance.
***
Nine
November 25
(Alliance) From L to R: Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Day Lewis and Kate Hudson
- The last time that director Rob Marshall was paired with a musical - Chicago - it resulted in 13 Oscar nominations. Nine, a lavish movie adaptation of the 1982 Tony-winning musical based on Federico Fellini's classic film 8 1/2. Even if you don't consider Marshall's Chicago experience, you can't ignore the appeal of a script by The Player's Michael Tolkin and a cast that makes your eyes water. ANYTHING starring Daniel Day-Lewis is probably going to be great - he really is probably the best actor of his generation - and the pedigree of his female supporting cast is impeccable. We're most excited to see La Vie en Rose's Marion Cotillard again, and the idea of watching Judi Dench and Sophia Loren belt out showtunes makes Nine almost impossible to ignore or resist.
Daniel Day-Lewis ... Guido Contini
Marion Cotillard ... Luisa Contini
Penelope Cruz ... Carla Albanese
Judi Dench ... Liliane La Fleur
Nicole Kidman ... Claudia Nardi
Kate Hudson ... Stephanie Necrophuros
Sophia Loren ... Mamma
Stacy Ferguson ... Saraghina
***
Love & Savagery
TBD
(Metropole)John N. Smith's story of passion, fate, and the consequences of the two. In 1968, Newfoundland geologist and poet, Michael McCarthy, travels to Ballyvaughan to examine the “Burren” a geological wonder. There he meets Cathleen, a beautiful woman who captures his heart, but because of the path she chose when she was young she cannot allow him to capture hers. Savagery erupts when Michael’s persistence collides with the townspeople’s hostility toward a foreigner’s attempt to intervene with divinity. Cathleen has to choose between a desire that she has recently discovered and a desire that she has felt throughout most of her life. Which will she choose? The love of a man, or the love of God? Can she love both? Is she strong enough to make the right choice?
***
Up in the Air
tbd
From Jason Reitman, director of Juno, comes Up in the Air starring George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a corporate hatchet man who loves life on the road but is forced to fight for his job when his company downsizes its travel budget.
Most travelers disdain airports, long flights and bland, standardized hotels - not Ryan Bingham. The career transition counselor—spends his time in transit, in the place he calls “Airworld.” He loves it. “Airworld is a nation within a nation,” Ryan says, “with its own language, architecture, mood and even its own currency—the token economy of airline bonus miles that I’ve come to value more than dollars. Inflation doesn’t degrade them. They’re not taxed. They’re private property in its purest form.” Ryan’s chief goal in life is to accumulate one million frequent-flyer miles, something, on a smaller scale, any traveler can appreciate.
Up In the Air has served as a title of seven different movies, going back to 1915.
***
The Boys Are Back
tbd
A moving, wryly confessional Australian tale of fatherhood, that intimately evokes both the fragility and wonders of family life. It follows a witty, wisecracking, action-oriented sportswriter, who, in the wake of his wife's death, finds himself in a sudden, stultifying state of single parenthood. With turbulent emotions swirling just below the surface, Joe Warr throws himself into the only child-rearing philosophy he thinks has a shot at bringing joy back into their lives: "just says yes." Raising two boys - a curious six year-old and a rebel teen from a previous marriage -- in a household devoid of feminine influence, and with an unabashed lack of rules, life becomes exuberant, instinctual, reckless . . . and on the constant verge of disaster. United by unspoken love, conflicted by fierce feelings and in search of a road forward, the three multi-generational boys of the Warr household, father and sons alike, must each find their own way, however tenuous, to grow up. Their story is not just about the transforming power of a family crisis -- but the unavoidable grace of everyday life and love that gets them through. Academy Award® nominee Scott Hicks (Shine) directs based on the acclaimed 2001 memoir by Simon Carr Shot on location in the stunning countryside of South Australia, the film is produced by Greg Brenman ("Billy Elliot") and Tim White ("Ned Kelly"). The executive producers are Peter Bennett-Jones and Clive Owen.
***
Invictus
December 11.
Written by native South African writer Anthony Peckham, based upon the book "Playing the Enemy," by John Carlin and tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa's rugby team (Matt Damon) to help unite their country. Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.
Invictus is sure to be an awards contender, just as most any Eastwood film is lately and Warner Bros. continues to give his features prime award season placement. Taking a look at Eastwood's last six films results in 22 Oscar nominations, which includes seven wins. If you take Gran Torino out of the picture, those 22 nominations are actually credited to only five films. To say I see nominations for Damon and Freeman in the future would be an understatement, not to mention the potential for even more awards
Eastwood is adept at darker, personal stories (Million Dollar Baby” and “Gran Torino)
***
The Tempest
As film director, Julie Taymor does things big. The spellbinding puppetmaster (Mozart's Magic Flute with the Metropolitan Opera + Broadway's The Lion King) has directed three films, every one a spectacle. 1) Titus, her gigantic, bloody take on Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, with Jessica Lange and Anthony Hopkins; 2) Frida, the Frida Kahlo biography starring Salma Hayek, a film as amazingly lively and colorful as Kahlo’s work itself. (a svelte 2 hours, 3 minutes); 3) Across the Universe, a literal take on Beatles lyrics.
Now, her filmed version of The Tempest with Helen Mirren (The Queen), Alfred Molina, David Strathairn, Chris Cooper, Tom Conti and Alan Cumming. Prospero is now Prospera, usurped by her brother and sent off with her four-year daughter on a ship. She ends up on an island; it's a tabula rasa: no society, so the mother figure becomes a father figure to Miranda, leading to the power struggle between Caliban and Prospera; a struggle not about brawn, but about intellect. Whew.
***
Brothers
December 4
Jim Sheridan's film (In America, In the Name of the Father) about a man who comforts the wife of his brother who leaves for war in Afghanistan, stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, and Tobey McGuire, three fine young talents in Hollywood.
***
The Lovely Bones - December 11.
(Paramount) Going head-to-head against Clint Eastwood's Invictis. Peter Jackson and the team behind the Lord of the Rings movies - returns with the adaptation of Alice Sebold's sad, sweet bestseller The Lovely Bones, a story of Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl, raped and murdered, who watches her family (and her killer) from Heaven as they move on following her death. In a tone both emotionally truthful, and darkly humorous, Susie tries to balance vengeance against the love she feels for her family and her need to see them heal; and ultimately comes to understand that family encompasses both the living and the dead.
Hollywood was quick to adapt the novel, but that a director best known for Hobbits and Orcs got the job. However, anyone familiar with Jackson's 1994 drama Heavenly Creatures (a true story of teen obsession and murder starring Kate Winslet) would immediately recognize Jackson as an eerily perfect choice to direct The Lovely Bones. Heavenly Creatures proved that Jackson and Fran Walsh know how to write teenage girls, and the more fantastic elements of the novel couldn't be in better hands. Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz play the parents. Stanley Tucci plays the killer in hiding.
***
Broken Embraces
December 18
(Metropole) Pedro Almodóvar's "Broken Embraces" is a four–way tale of amour–fou, shot in the style of ‘50s American film noir at its most hard–boiled,mixing references to Nicholas Ray’s In a Lonely Place and Vincente Minnelli’s The Bad and the Beautiful, with Almodóvar fascination with the mystery of creation, guilt, unscrupulous power, the eternal search of fathers for sons, and sons for fathers.
Penelope Cruz, Lluis Homar of Bad Education and Blanca Portilla of Volver join the cast.
***
Agora - December 18 -
A sand and sandals epic, “According to IMDb, an historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning a slave (Max Minghella) who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hopes of pursuing freedom while also falling in love with his master (Rachel Weisz), the famous female philosophy professor and atheist Hypatia of Alexandria.” Set in Roman Egypt in the fourth century A.D., Rachel Weisz plays astrologer-philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, who fights to save the collected wisdom of the ancient world. Her slave Davus is torn between his love for his mistress and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity.
***
December 25
(Warner) Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Kelly Reilly. Action/Adventure Mystery. In a dynamic new portrayal of Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous characters, "Sherlock Holmes" sends Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson on their latest challenge. Revealing fighting skills as lethal as his legendary intellect, Holmes will battle as never before to bring down a new nemesis and unravel a deadly plot that could destroy the country.
Robert Downey Jr. is a tough, sword-flourishing Holmes, Jude Law as an even tougher, no-nonsense Watson in Guy Ritchie (Mr. Madonna)’s ‘reimagining’ of the ultimate sleuth. Based on Lionel Wigram’s comic book about the consulting detective rather than directly upon Conan Doyle’s books, the film also features Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler, the captivating femme fatale introduced in an 1891 Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia.
***
