Dark Tower, Alien news

I do not intend for this to become a news blog with all the latest updates about what's happening in the film world. There are enough websites that excel at breaking news (www.aintitcool.com; www.darkhorizons.com; www.moviecitynews.com). What I will do, on occasion, is highlight some cinematic developments that are of great interest to me personally.

The first story I'd like to mention is the casting of the lead in Ron Howard's adaptation of Stephen King's epic "The Dark Tower". (Yes, Howard is a strange choice for director considering the material.) Earlier this week many sites reported that Christian Bale had been cast as Roland Deschain. Hours later, another story broke that Javier Bardem, Oscar winner for "No Country for Old Men" and currently nominated for "Biutiful", had been officially approached to play the character. I'm interested in how this will play out, since Bale would be a decidely commercial decision based on his association with the hyper successful Batman franchise. I'd be more comfortable with the less conventional and artistically brave Bardem as Deschain. (I hereby choose to ignore his involvement in the misguided adaptation of "Love in a Time of Cholera".)

The second story has to do with one of my favourite franchises, the "Alien" movies. The first film, simply titled "Alien" (1979), was an innovative if not wholly original SF horror directed by Ridley Scott ("Gladiator", "Kingdom of Heaven") while the sequel "Aliens" (1986) remains James Cameron's best film. The two other entries, David Fincher's "Alien 3" (1992) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Alien Resurrection" (1997) do not live up to the standards of the first two but are more than worth a watch, even as curiosities of the genre. Since last year there've been rumours about another "Alien" film, a prequel, again directed by Ridley Scott (who has hopefully not lost all the restraint he showed in the first film).

(Image from www.denofgeek.com)

At this stage, it seems as if the prequel, tentatively titled "Prometheus", won't actually be a direct prequel to "Alien", but rather a separate story set in the same universe inhabited by the xenomorphs. The film is set to star Noomi Rapace (aka Lisbeth Salander) and possibly Michael Fassbender (who is not listed as a cast member on the IMDb). Here's hoping that the film will not suffer the fate of "Predators"; but then, the "Predator" franchise as a whole has been quite inferior to the "Alien" films in terms of narrative and conception.

Another reason to check out the "Alien" films - or to revisit them - is to experience HR Giger's legendary designs. Giger is reported to be on board for "Prometheus" as well. Check out some of his work at www.hrgiger.com.

Revisit the Nostromo with this atmospheric original trailer:

Some thoughts on the Oscar nominations

See the full Oscar nominations at www.oscars.com or any other movie related website in the universe.

Overall, a predictable affair, with "Social Network" and "The King's Speech" getting nominated as expected, while popular favourite "Inception" squeaked in for Best Original Screenplay and Picture. Admittedly, "Winter's Bone" got more love than I anticipated. As I wrote yesterday, the film has some striking dialogue which is rewarded in the Best Adapted Screenplay category. My favourite surprise is that John Hawkes is nominated for his stunning character work as Teardrop.

Another surprise: "Toy Story 3" getting nominated for both Best Picture and Best Animated Feature, and getting attention for its writing as well.

I'm looking forward to the Best Documentary showdown since "Restrepo" is the political choice while "Exit Through the Gift Shop" is, from what I've read, the kind of intellectual game that Banksy would be associated with, calling into question the authenticity of the film itself.

I'm disappointed that the much adored Cannes winner "Life Above All" did not get nominated for Best Foreign Film, but the Danish Golden Globe winner is there, as is the intruiging looking Greek "Dogtooth" and the latest Inarritu (all hail!) film, "Biutiful".

Of haunted houses and the Himalayas

The above image, a beautifully absurd shot of a woman with what is clearly an eyeball in her mouth, is one of hundreds of bizarre, enchanting and disturbing (take your pick) images from Obayashi's classic cult film "Hausu" (1977). A bunch of Japanese school girls (stop right there: the moment you read that, you know this can't end well) go to a mansion in the country for some rest and relaxation and instead come face to face with a devious white cat, violent linen, a possessed piano and a watermelon (this isn't all of it; I wouldn't dream of spoiling all the fun). It's a wonderfully delirious film that precedes the camera-manics of Sam Raimi by at least five years and became a landmark film in Japanese cinema.

Speaking of landmark movies:

The considerable creative force of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger resulted in what must be one of the most visually attractive films of all time, "Black Narcissus" (1947). Starring a strong Deborah Kerr (she of the wave-frolicking in "From Here to Eternity" fame), the film tells the story of a group of nuns trying to establish a school and hospital in a former palace up in the Himalayas. It's incredible that a film over 60 years old is more adept at establishing depth than 3-D movies. It's called "mise-en-scene", and the masters were excellent at it. Jack Cardiff's cinematography is as impressive as the mountain home the nuns try to create.

Jennifer Lawrence a serious Oscar contender

If there's one reason to see Debra Granik's "Winter's Bone", it's for a potent performance by Jennifer Lawrence, who will surely receive an Ocar nomination for this film. Set in the American Ozark region, the film is a low budget, effective thriller in which 17-year old Ree (Lawrence) sets off to find her father, a crystal meth cook who's disappeared - leaving behind his three children and medicated, mentally ill wife. Ree takes care of all of them. As the quietly desperate and committed Ree, Lawrence is haunting, even if the film as a whole lacks a final electric surge, which is a pity since the film's success lies in its slow cooking tension. Like "Frozen River" two years ago, the film is aesthetically spartan, featuring a rough look that fittingly frames the rugged environment in which the characters find themselves.

John Hawkes is so good as the reluctant uncle, Teardrop, that I'm surprised that we haven't heard him receive more acclaim for this role. He embodies malice in one scene, and surprising tenderness the next. He's the second best thing in this character driven drama that, while well written (the dialogue is often striking) and functionally minimalist, fails to sustain its momentum all the way through. (The ending, I have to admit, is perfect.)

Some belated capsule reviews

In "The Book of Eli", Denzel Washington journeys it up in post-apocalyptic America, but this is no “The Road”. “Eli” is all spectacle and suffers from a weak villain in the form of Gary Oldman (who does what he can with an underwritten character) and an unnecessary lead female in Mila Kunis. Add some shoddy green-screen backgrounds and you have yourself an entertaining but overall unsatisfying futuristic adventure.

"How to Drain Your Dragon" is a surprisingly good Dreamworks CGI adventure about a young Viking boy named Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) who befriends a dragon instead of slaying it. The animation is jaw-droppingly good, so much so that its finale has been compared to the destruction of the Death Star in terms of excitement.

(Concept art from IGN)

Nicolas Cage is great when he's demented, and his Lt. Terence McDonagh is a memorable character even in the film "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" isn't one of director Werner Herzog's best. For brave viewers.

(Source: IGN)

What a mistake "The Lovely Bones" was for its whole creative team. As a murder victim and her murderer, Saoirse Ronan and Stanley Tucci own the film, but overblown visuals leave the film without nuance.

Speaking of mistakes, "Where the Wild Things Are" is a tedious overlong film about the perils of childhood. There's a fight scene that's more "Saving Private Ryan" than anything else, indicative of the film struggles to find its voice. I got heavy lidded long before the end.

Jim Sheridan's "Brothers" ended up being a bit of a lame-duck adaptation of the Danish favourite "Brodre". Despite a game cast which includes a luminous Natalie Portman, the film says nothing about war and the effect it has on people that hasn't been said better before.

The Oscar nominated "Gomorrah", a film so controversial it invited death threats for its director, Matteo Garrone, tells a handful of stories set in Mafia-ruled Naples. It's a slow moving film, lacking the visual kinesis of "Goodfellas" and "City of God", but its final half hour is riveting as the various characters we've been following make decisions that seal their fates.

Ji-woon Kim shows Michael Bay how to orchestrate compelling and sensible action scenes in the ridiculously fun Oriental Western "The Good, the Bad, the Weird". The film ostensibly takes its cue from the archetypal "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and takes that film's treausre hunt to set up a period action adventure the likes of I haven't seen in ages.

The 10 Best Films of 2010

I have missed much this past year, my big screen outings often derailed by a variety of other obligations. Most significantly, I guess, is that I missed “The Social Network” – I arrived at the cinema only to find out that the film was only showing an hour’s drive out of town, which meant spending additional time I did not have. I’ve tried to catch up with other titles on DVD, but there was no way to see every single candidate. I missed "A Prophet", "Departures" and others. So be it.

For the record, the two worst films I saw in 2010 were “Surrogates” and “Precious”.
Bruce Willis’s shockingly outdated SF/identity thriller “Surrogates”, seems like the mangy bastard offspring of “Minority Report” and “I, Robot”, both of which are vastly superior to this film. Willis hams it up as a cop looking for the person behind a spate of robot-related killings. See, in the future, people use robotic versions of themselves to go outside of their homes and interact. Terrible.

Then there’s the exploitative, bizarrely over-the-top and mind-boggling “Precious”, which received so many accolades the past two years it made my head spin. When I finally saw the film, my head spun again, this time like Regan’s in “The Exorcist”. I’ll give credit to brave Gabourey Sidibe, but the film is crammed with misguided creative decisions. Avoid.

Writing about film is intensely gratifying, which is why I miss it so when I don’t get around to it. As I said earlier, here’s hoping 2011 is more cine-accommodating.

Let's begin with an honorable mention for "Inception". Chris Nolan’s blockbuster dream-drama boasts not only a stunning cast (look out for a delicious performance by Tom Hardy) and scene upon scene of inventive spectacle, but also a smart screenplay that doesn’t even rely on a final twist to pull the rug out from under viewers. Hans Zimmer’s score is already the stuff of legend, even if the old master is showing signs of listening to his own work too often. As good as the film is, it's a narrative second to "Memento".

Another film worth looking out for is "Moolaade". Senegalese master Ousmane Sembene’s last major work never got a release in South Africa; in fact, it showed for two weeks in a single cinema on the continent. The subject matter may have something to do with the film’s lack of local visibility: female circumcision. Sembene’s filmmaking is simple but highly effective; the film addresses not only genital mutilation but also the tension between tradition and modernity in certain African communities. It’s energetic, wonderfully acted by a cast of amateurs and to the point – track it down if you can.

10. Toy Story 3
The best way to describe “Toy Story 3” is to call it the year’s best action film. It’s an escape caper like no other and a thrilling finale to the trilogy, a beautifully animated adventure about growing up, letting go and sticking together.

9. The Hurt Locker
The Oscar winning drama is, in spite of the backlash against the film, a very, very good, tight and tense film as it details the daily work of a bomb disposal unit in Iraq. At times you can feel the sun in your eye and the dust on your teeth. Starring Jeremy Renner, the film is well acted and superbly edited. I was too hard on it the first time I saw it, mistaking its crafty narrative progression as ‘formulaic’; it deserves a place on year-end lists. (I still don’t like the final shot though.)

8. A Serious Man
The Coen brothers strike again, crafting a gorgeous looking, meticulous tale about an American Job coming to terms (or not) with one of life’s key facts: enduring uncertainty. At times the film is hilarious, at others baffling. Its questions on the nature of existence and existential ambiguity itself haunt me.

7. The White Ribbon
Michael Haneke’s films are in many ways never easy to watch but are always highly rewarding. This black-and-white, two-and-a-half-hour opus on collective transgressions and the sins of the father dressed up as a possible murder mystery just before the beginning of WWII is captivating. The cinematography is the year’s best.

6. Everlasting Moments
Jan Troell’s Oscar-nominated family drama is a sentimental, classical triumph. The film tells the story of Maria (Maria Heiskanen), whose interest in photography adds meaning to her often troubled domestic existence. The film is a powerful meditation on the power of the image, something this film itself demonstrates with aplomb.

5. Shutter Island
For some reason many critics dismissed Martin Scorsese’s moody thriller, which is based on Dennis Lehane’s novel about two detectives looking for a missing patient on a small island dominated by a mental institue in 1954. The less said about the story, the better. With this and “Inception” in a single year, 2010 belonged to Leonardo DiCaprio. Like “Inception”, this one deserves multiple viewings.

4. Fantastic Mr Fox
The eclectic Wes Anderson follows up the delightful “Darjeeling Limited” with this animated feature based on Roald Dahl’s popular children’s book. The film has all of Dahl’s characters and story, but the infusion of Anderson’s wit and peculiar view of human relationships makes the film into something greater than the sum of its parts. It is the year’s best animated film, with apologies to Pixar.

3. Fish Tank
Andrea Arnold is one of my favourite filmmakers working today. Her debut feature “Red Road”, about a woman who pursues a man she spotted via CCTV while at work, was deservedly a Cannes darling. Her latest, “Fish Tank”, single handedly reworks British social realism from an exclusive female viewpoint, and the result is a riveting work about equal parts youthful naivety and class tensions. Michael Fassbender is great as romantic interest Connor, but this is young Katie Jarvis’s film all the way.

2. Antichrist
When Lars von Trier proclaimed himself (only half jokingly) the best director in the world at Cannes, many derided the self serving statement. I suppose it’s easy to forget the emotional force of “Breaking the Waves” and the unnerving qualities of “The Idiots”; Von Trier truly is a leading figure in world film. “Antichrist” solidifies his position. This is a brilliant film, disturbing beyond personal expectation. In this dense, dark drama, a married couple mourn the death of their young son in a cabin in the woods, embarking on a journey of physical and psychological mutilation. As the couple, Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg are magnetic. Watch it at your own risk.

1. Hunger
Steve McQueen’s devastating prison drama deserves accolades for a variety of audacious directorial decisions and Michael Fassbender’s acting. By not giving the audience a protagonist until late in the film, “Hunger” makes pointed comments about social control today by positioning its story in the Irish-English conflicts of the early 1980s. The infamous 17 minute shot, where Bobby (Fassbender) and a priest (Liam Cunningham) discuss suicide and martyrdom, amongst other things, is sheer bravado.

"Hunger": a dialogue

Creating atmosphere in "Antichrist"

Jarvis in "Fish Tank"