Upcoming Movies

The Social Network and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

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The Social Network tells us something about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – not about this year’s Swedish version, but about next year’s Hollywood version to be directed by David Fincher.

First, The Social Network shows that Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac)  is still operating at his best.   The Social Network is essentially about some annoying, immature geeks writing computer code and getting financing for a company – but Fincher makes it rock!  Fight Club and Zodiac are two of my favorite contemporary films, and Fight Club‘s desperate violence and Zodiac‘s whodunit relentlessness translate directly to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. So there couldn’t be a better director for this project than Fincher.

Rooney Mara in The Social Network

Second, the success of the Stieg Larsson trilogy depends on the portrayal of Lisbeth Salander.  The Swedish version has been amazing because of the Danish actress Noomi Rapace’s  jawdropping Lisbeth.  But in Fincher’s  movies, Lisbeth Salander will be played by Rooney Mara.  The good news from The Social Network is that Mara nails her scenes as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s soon-to-be ex-girlfriend.  And we get a glimmer of the intensity that Mara will need for Lisbeth.  Plus Mara is used to working with Fincher, who is notorious for his scores of takes; reportedly, Fincher required over 90 takes for the opening scene between Mara and Jesse Eisenberg.

Movies I'm Looking Forward To – Late October Edition

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I’ve updated the Movies I’m Looking Forward To page to add trailers and descriptions of some key late October releases.  First, we have two romps, the sex comedy Tamara Drewe and the tongue-in-cheek actioner RED this weekend.  Then we step up in class on October 22 with the Wall Street documentary Inside Job and Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter.  And October 29 brings us the eagerly awaited (at least by me)  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

The early buzz is that Inside Job may be this year’s best documentary and one of the year’s best films.  Here’s the trailer.

Carlos

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I haven’t seen it yet, but Cannes audiences loved this 5-hour biopic of the 70s terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and the film was bought by IFC and Sundance Channel.  The Sundance Channel is broadcasting it in three parts, this Monday through Wednesday, October 11-13.  Set your TiVos.

Many see this as a star-making breakthrough for its Venezuelan star Edgar Ramirez.

More Ken Burns Baseball

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In 1994 documentarian Ken Burns came out with his history of baseball, told in nine “innings”.   This week Burns updates his Baseball with The Tenth Inning on PBS.  The Top of the Tenth is this week, followed next week with The Bottom of the Tenth.

In Baseball, Burns used a delightful array of talking heads (players and observers), the most compelling of whom were Buck O’Neil, Stephen Jay Gould and Bob Costas.  I would expect the same style – and the same quality – in The Tenth Inning.

Baseball is one of my 10 Best Baseball Movies.

New Movies I'm Looking Forward To

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Edward Norton corrects Edward Norton in Leaves of Grass

I’ve just updated Movies I’m Looking Forward To.  We’ve got Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Howl, The Social Network and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger all coming out in the next two weeks.  Here are some new entries:

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger: Woody Allen’s latest comedy about romantic entanglements and human self-delusion. Stars Naomi Watts, Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas and Josh Brolin.  Releases October 1.

Tamara Drewe:  Steven Frears (The Queen, The Snapper, Dangerous Liaisons, High Fidelity) brings us a sex comedy.  A writer’s colony in the English countryside is disrupted when a local woman returns with a nose job that has made her into an irresistible hottie.  She enjoys being irresistible.  Releases October 8.

Leaves of Grass:  A college professor is tricked into returning to Oklahoma by his pot-dealing identical twin brother.  Hilarity ensues.  Edward Norton plays both twins.  Strong supporting cast with Susan Sarandon, Richard Dreyfuss and Tim Blake Nelson.  Rolling out slowly across the country.

Tabloid: A reputedly very funny Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line, Mr. Death, Gates of Heaven)  documentary tracing the story of a woman who had her dead dog cloned; it turns out that, years before, she was accused of manacling a Mormon missionary as her sex slave.  Debuted at Telluride; wide release not yet scheduled.

For trailers, go to Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

Why I already hate Conviction

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It’s common that a movie trailer will turn me off from seeing a film that I suspect is bad. But sometimes a trailer makes me think that it’s a pretty good movie that I don’t want to see, either. That’s the case with Conviction, the story of a young woman whose brother is convicted of murder; over 18 years, she gets her GED, her college and law degrees and begins a legal struggle to clear him and rescue him from Death Row.  It’s an Oscar vehicle for Hilary Swank, who plays the sister, and what appears to be another fine performance by Sam Rockwell, who plays the brother.  It’s based on the true story of one Betty Anne Waters.

The problem for me is that the film looks self righteous, overly earnest and humorless. It’s just too damn inspirational.  Melissa Leo, who can add texture to any performance, apparently has been given a one-note cardboard cut-out role of a close-minded cop.

And here’s a lawyer’s quibble:  You wouldn’t expect somebody right out of night law school to overturn a murder conviction with a well-reasoned appeal – and she doesn’t. Instead, she gets the Innocence Project to test the DNA, which clears the brother (that isn’t a spoiler if you’ve seen the trailer).  Now you don’t need to go to law school to involve the Innocence Project – they get involved on the wishes of the non-lawyer relatives of convicts all the time.  So the 18-year struggle may be extraordinary, but that’s not what gets the brother off.

This trailer reminds me of the one for The Duchess, which featured Keira Knightly adorned in 18th century finery in a spectacular shot with hundreds of candles – and made me want to gag.  No The Duchess for me.

Speaking of trailers, I really enjoy another (even more irreverent) WordPress blog, The Trailer Trashers. Their tag line is “The only critics who dare review movies BEFORE we see them”.  Yes, they review the trailers.  Give them a look see.

More Movies I'm Looking Forward To

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September is approaching, and so is the Fall movie season, when the studios push their Oscar contenders.  So I have updated my Movies I’m Looking Forward To page with new titles and new trailers.

There are films by Clint Eastwood, Mike Leigh, Terrence Malick, Peter Weir, Sophia Coppola, Julie Taymor and the Coen Brothers.  Two of my favorite lesser-known directors, Suzanne Bier (Brothers, After the Wedding, Things We Lost in the Fire) of Denmark and Guillaume Canet (Tell No One) of France, have new movies.  Darren Aronofsky will release his newest film after hitting it big with The Wrestler – Black Swan with Natalie Portman.

Helen Mirren will star in three movies: The Debt, Brighton Rock and The Tempest.

The Oscar Bait includes The Town, The Fighter, Another Year, Somewhere, Hereafter, True Grit, Howl, The Way Back and The Tree of Life.  Wall Street: The Money Never Sleeps and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest look to me like the surest Fall hits.   Another Year, The Town, Hereafter and The Way Back look like they will be the best movies.  We should have a better feel for the buzz after Toronto’s film fest in mid-September.

Visit Movies I’m Looking Forward To for more descriptions and trailers.

New Trailers: Wall Street and Funny Story

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First, the big Hollywood release Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps:  I wasn’t a huge fan of Wall Street, and I’m not a fan of Shia LaBeouf, but this trailer makes the sequel look really good.  Having Carey Mulligan helps.  Michael Douglas’ fine performance in Solitary Man looks to be an excellent tuneup for another turn as Gordon Gekko. Releases September 24.

And now the indie It’s Kind of a Funny Story. It’s a dark comedy set in a locked psychiatric facility by Directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Half Nelson, Sugar).  It’s hard for me to find humor in psych wards, but I found the trailer to be winning.  Keir Gilchrist stars with Zach Galifianakis and the very promising Emma Roberts.  Also releases September 24.

The Social Network: new trailer

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Here’s the new trailer for The Social Network about the founding of Facebook.  It’s promising because it’s written by Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing, Charlie Wilson’s War) and directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac).  The underrated Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland, Zombieland, Solitary Man) stars as head geek.  Releases October 1.




The Town

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The trailer for The Town has just been released:

Ben Affleck proved in Gone Baby Gone that he is a fine director.  Now, in The Town,  he brings us another Boston crime drama about thieves desperately evading the FBI.  Stars Affleck, Mad Men’s Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, Chris Cooper and The Hurt Locker‘s Jeremy Renner.  Releases September 17.