Sunday, December 03, 2006

The (Mostly) Unseen Contenders of '06: The Good German


THE GOOD GERMAN

Release Date
: December 15th (limited); December 22nd (wider)

MPAA Rating: R for language, violence and some sexual content

Ten Words Or Less
: World War II. Noir redux. Plus hella sexy George Clooney.

Reason For Existence: Because what the world needs right now, people, is one queasily patriotic World War II epic. Or two, if you count Flags of our Fathers. Well, actually three, if you count Letters from Iwo Jima. Four, if you count Happy Feet.

Mathematical Equation: (Ocean's 11 - 10) + Serious Historical Subject Matter + black-and-white film - Good Night and Good Luck

Take A Look: Not Casablanca Exactly

Early Buzz (Good)
: "[Director Steven] Soderbergh couldn't bring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman back from the dead, but he did the next best thing. He hired George Clooney, who exudes a timeless star quality and plays it hard and achingly romantic....No true student of cinema will want to miss his ride back to the future. It's pure moviegoing bliss." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Early Buzz (Bad)
: "I sat near a guy who guffawed, sucked his teeth and said 'Oh, puhleeze!' loudly enough that everyone in the auditorium could hear him." - Sheigh Crabtree, Risky Biz Blog

Oscar Locks: None

In The Running: Best Actor (Clooney) and Best Actress (Blanchett)

Long Shots
: Best Director and Best Cinematography (Soderbergh)

Completely Irrelevant Best Picture Odds
: 10-1

Why It's Essential
: Two recent Oscar winners under the direction of another (who's due again), and it's a fascinating exercise in filmmaking.

The Achilles Heel
: Just because you CAN make a movie like Von Stroheim doesn't mean you SHOULD.

The Verdict
: If it's good, it's perfectly positioned to build through the critics awards. If it's not -- and the buzz is unclear so far on that point -- it will be dead in the water before New Year's Eve.

[Modern Fabulousity]

11 comments:

Lucas Dantas said...

This is one of the Oscar buzzed movies that I don't care if ends up with no wins or even nods at all, I'm just crazy to see it; first because I love these stylized films and from what I've seen from the trailer Cate and George seem dang appealing on it.

Glenn Dunks said...

Style - Substance = omgidontcarebecauseitlooksPRETTY!!!!

Anonymous said...

I'm not even that big on Casablanca (or Cate Blanchett or Steven Soderbergh), but I'm desperate to see at least one Great film in 2006 and with every passing day this looks more and more like the strongest candidate.

Also the world urgently needs more black and white cinematography.

Lucas Dantas said...

LOOOOL!! Oh Glenn I love you!

Anonymous said...

The buzz is so bad in this. It's my most anticipated of the year, but early reviews are just killing. Good by Rolling Stone and Hollywood Reporter, but BAAAAAAAD by Variety, Emanuel Levy and Kris Tapley.
I'd love to see Blanchett double nomed, but not happening. I'll pray for cinematography and score.

And Nathaniel, where are your thoughts on Notes??? It's killing me!

Anonymous said...

visually pretty,

but so dissapointing, so pretentious, the acting was horrible, I mean not even CATE!, I cannot stress it enought, The Good German is not a good film...at all, but that score & cinematography are one of the best in the decade... I'm happy to say Three Times & Children of Men are still the best films of 2006...

D+
**

Anonymous said...

Nice place i added you to my blog if you dont mind i have like 400.000 hits and i have like 600 full movies. no rapidshare links they sux. i love the place fileho.no timer no waiting like rapidshit.


add me i added you i got my site hidden from the spammers .

http://fileho.com/download/d905a8723137/FY.htm.html

Anonymous said...

http://fileho.com/download/d905a8723137
/FY.htm.html

Anonymous said...

Nathaniel will be happy to hear that Cate Blanchett will, after the Haynes film and the Elizabeth sequel, be taking a three year break from film to run the Sydney Theatre Company in 2008. Will time make the heart grow fonder?

Anonymous said...

Blanchett is leaving for 3 years?!?!?!?

Um....yay?

Anonymous said...

Nobody will notice though, as she has 2 movies for 2007 and Benjamin Button for 2008... If she doesn't make another movie in the Theater period, she'll be back in 2010... Sad, but we can live with it and be happy for her...