Friday, April 03, 2009

ShoWest: The Princess and the Frog, The Soloist, Meryl as Julia Child

Here's the final bits from frequent commenter Rosengje's ShoWest journey which he generously gifted to The Film Experience. Thank her in the comments for putting us in pocket and taking us along. Here they are...
The Soloist was met with a relatively indifferent reaction following a screening at Le Theater des Arts. I respected and even admired Joe Wright's (Atonement) latest effort, but had almost no direct connection to the material. Perhaps my greatest concern going into the screening was the potential for the film to go over the top in impressing the sentimentality of the story on the audience. Instead, the movie never reached the emotional heights that it should have. Robert Downey Jr. gives a typically charismatic performance as Steve Lopez, a columnist for the LA Times. Lopez accidentally encounters Jamie Foxx's Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Jr., a homeless former cellist, while on assignment in the Greater LA area. Ayers was once a promising musical talent at Julliard, but suffered a schizophrenic breakdown in his early 20s. Lopez becomes increasingly invested in restoring Ayers's potential, even as his own life is in disarray. Wright effectively grounds the story in the reality of the LA landscape, not shying away from photographing the city's least desirable areas. Unfortunately, this is also one of the film's most problematic areas. I was frequently uncomfortable with the portrayal of race and poverty throughout the film. The implication that it required the presence of Lopez, a relatively affluent white male, to shed light on the city's drug problems was troubling and lacking in nuance. The movie also falls prey to the Hollywood trend of providing excessive back story. We are treated to extensive flashbacks of Nathaniel's childhood and his eventual decline into paranoia. The sequences are competently acted and captured, but they seem redundant. It would have been more interesting for the audience to piece together the character's story on their own which also would have allowed Jamie Foxx a chance to provide more nuance in his performance.

Surprisingly (or not), I found Catherine Keener to be the highlight of the film. She has a small role as Lopez's former wife, but makes the most of her screen time. Keener is able to convey an array of emotions as she watches her ex devote himself to a stranger while neglecting the couple's own son. As an upper-level staffer at the Times, she also provides one of the more compelling portraits of a powerful woman in the workplace in recent memory.
Supporting Actress Oscar campaign possibilities for Keener than, or is the role too incidental to the meat of the thing? Speak up awards season addicts.
We saw extensive footage from Angels & Demons, The Ugly Truth, Julie & Julia, The Year One, District 9, and The Taking of Pelham 123. Despite my distaste for this Katherine Heigl person, The Ugly Truth looked unexpectedly funny.

Julie & Julia looked great, and the audience burst into applause at Meryl Streep's first appearance as Julia Child. I believe we were treated to the first footage of District 9, which is presented by Peter Jackson and is currently being worked on by Weta. I am skeptical of the story, which follows the segregation of an alien species from humans, but the film had an interesting look to it. Interestingly, Sony was the only studio to require a full cell phone check. Wolverine induced paranoia?
Paranoia what. who? I got stuck on the spontaneous applause for Streep's biopic transformation... from industry folks no less. I missed the rest of that paragraph. In case you missed it here's the previous post on Meryl as Julia.
Before a screening of The Proposal (surprisingly charming), Disney had a treat in store, a scene from the upcoming The Princess and the Frog. Disney is opening the movie in New York and LA on November 25 and platforming it out on December 11. The sequence we watched had elements that were still very early on in the animation process, but the audience was captivated. Anika Noni Rose voices Tiana, a native of New Orleans, who has dreamed of opening a restaurant for 14 years. Defeated, she walks onto a balcony to pin all of her hopes on making a wish on an evening star. Well, her wish is granted in the form of a prince trapped in the body of a frog. The prince convinces Tiana to kiss him and return him to his original grandeur, in exchange for him making her dreams finally come true. The clip was hilarious and poignant, and the voice work was very impressive. I thought the footage looked right at home alongside the Disney classics and I cannot wait to see the finished product.
I had no idea what the story elements for this New Orleans musical were going to be. Opening a restaurant, eh?

Rose definitely has a beautiful voice so I'm pleased that Disney entrusted their first black Princess to her. You get glimpses of the strengths of her pipes in From Justin to Kelly (I know!) and Dreamgirls but her best role to date was definitely her TONY winning jubilance in Broadway's shortlived but spectacularly moving Caroline or Change (all of this, previously discussed). Though it's only voice work and she isn't famous enough to get marketing built around her (like Cameron Diaz and Mike Myers for the Shrek films), I hope Anika the actress manages plenty of face time when the movie arrives for the holidays. This star can shine. Hollywood just needs to let her. But you know how they have trouble maintaining interest in the black actresses, even the very talented ones.
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15 comments:

Seeking Amy said...

It seems virtually impossible for Catherine Keener to give a bad performance. If she has sufficient enough screen time and gives a good performance, Oscar nod #3 would be nice! (Which ya know, she should have gotten for Lovely & Amazing, or Into the Wild despite how brief she was in that) Although the middling review for The Soloist didn't surprise me, the trailer didn't do anything to make me go 'Wow!' even if I think Joe Wright is growing to be one of the more talented directors today.

I'm still not convinced about Julie and Julia. It is Streep, and Julia Child is a great character for her (physical resemblance is more striking than I had realized) but Nora Ephron hasn't done anything noteworthy since the 90's. I don't think I need to explain how awful Bewitched and Lucky Numbers were. It does sound like the meatiest project for Nora since Silkwood though, and last time Meryl worked with her, she gave one of her best performances to date. We'll see I guess

I'm pretty stoked for Princess and The Frog! I've missed the handdrawn animation of Disney (barring all the ridiculous straight to DVD sequels of course)
and Anika Noni Rose is a lovely actress with a lovely voice. It's too bad she didn't pick up more steam after Dreamgirls like Jennifer and Beyonce (blech!) did.

Pablete said...

I love Anika Noni Rose too! She is loveliness itself! I do hope she manages to have a beautiful career in motion pictures. A writer by the name of Terenci Moix once said that the true stars have an additional element that cannot be described, "the something little extra". Anika Noni Rose is endowed with it.

Red said...

This is interesting because i just read a review from Roger Moore at the Orlando Sentinel who wrote that he was moved to tears by the movie.

"I left a preview of The Soloist last night, sat in my car, punched the CD changer to a Beethoven piano concerto and fought off the tears.
It's not that this terrific film, opening later this month, is a weeper. It's inspiring, uplifting, challenging, a bio-pic about a mentally ill musician (Jamie Foxx) and the reporter (Robert Downey Jr.) who tries, in various ways, to help.
It is film art and Oscar bait, even though it was pushed back from last fall to this spring.
But whatever its virtues, its big moments and spot-on in-sync performances (no, this isn't a review), the average viewer probably won't be as touched by the grim state-of-the-newspaper subtext that Joe Wright spun from Steve Lopez's non-fiction book.
People in the business will be. I know I was."

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_movies_blog/2009/03/the-soloistan-elegy-for-newspapering.html

Marshall said...

Sorry, but Roger Moore's review reminded me immediately of this:

http://www.thehotbutton.com/today/hot.button/2000_thb/20001120c_mon.html

Anonymous said...

opening a restaurant= weird (for a Disney Princess movie), but could work

Wayne B. said...

Pablete - ditto on Anika Noni Rose. When "Dreamgirls" debuted, I thought they could've expanded her role. Out of the three Dreams, she gives the best overall performance. I like how her voice matures throughout the movie; "Patience" still blows me away. Looking forward to some new Anika Noni Rose songs this year.

Anonymous said...

Still no sight of those collective predictions eh!

Anonymous said...

Meryl is too overrated as an actress. Just saw her performance in "Doubt" it was average it's been done before! She was great in the 70's & early 80's...

Pablete said...

Is Meryl Streep definitely battling for a leading Oscar in "Julie & Julia"?

NATHANIEL R said...

I personally think supporting. but who knows. maybe it'll be a devil wears prada thang.

Fabrizzio said...

I hate the bus...I want my own car. I car with a heater, I want a TV set and mroe...

Anonymous said...

Nat, America wants to read your analysis on the Kidman-JCM Rabbit Hole pairing.

-America

adam k. said...

I'm thinking/hoping Meryl is head (I predicted her).

It's not just Devil Wears Prada we have to go on. Think about something like Last King of Scotland that's really about James McAvoy's character, but leaves the audience thinking about nothing but Forest Whitaker.

If early word is anything to go by, Meryl is all anyone will be talking about re: this film. If that continues, and the Nancy Meyers film is, well, like most Nancy Meyers films, then I see a lead campaign going forward.

carla sarovsky said...

She's obviously gonna be nominated in the lead category. You can win a Globe for a Nancy Meyers comedy but not an Oscar.

On the other hand, you might win an Oscar if you're playing a REAL person with an accent and an attitude, if it's directed by a mediocre director. It has been done before.

She'll be campagined as a lead, trust me.

And history has shown us that Nat doesn't "get" category placement lol

Pablete said...

Does this mean a second leading Oscar is going to Meryl Streep in a similar vogue to Katharine Hepburn in "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner"?