Who's Up For Hugo

JA from MNPP here, with a bit of casting news hitting the internet today. Martin Scorsese's gathering up his cast for Hugo Cabret, his adaptation of the apparently popular book by Brian Selznick, and you might recognize one or two of them.

Jude Law. Frances de la Tour. Sacha Baron Cohen. Richard Griffiths. Christopher Lee. Ray Winstone. Ben Kingsley. Asa Butterfield. Helen McCrory. Not pictured is Chloe Moretz of Kick Ass and the unnecessary Let the Right One In remake (but the less I say about her the better).

Hey look, History Boys reunion!

Not that those two haven't already done the Harry Potter thing. They are English actors, after all. Anyway, since I haven't read the book I only have a couple of points to make. Firstly, Martin Scorsese is working with Christopher Lee. Secondly, Martin Scorsese is working with Christopher Lee. Okay I guess that's all I got. It makes this horror-geek's head happy though.

Anybody familiar the book? I'm assuming the chance to fetishize George Méliès it promises is what drew Scorsese to the material, no? Now that he's won his Oscar it's nice seeing Marty loosen up again (even if I wasn't too keen on Shutter Island).
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We Can't Wait #6 Shutter Island

Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Emily Mortimer, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow, Elias Koteas, Jackie Earle Haley and Patricia Clarkson
Synopsis: Marshals Leo & Mark attempt to find murderous Emily! She escaped from Ashecliffe Asylum where Dr. Ben & Max both work!! She might be hiding on Shutter Island!!! (I'm gagging on multiple exclamation points because it sounds like such a pulpy thriller. Wheee)
Brought to you by the novel by Dennis Lehane by way of Paramount Pictures
Expected Release Date October 2nd

In our mad rush to complete the We Can't Wait series, my blog buddies and I zoomed right by Scorsese and Co. So, there's no conversation. Still and all... I doubt you need any convincing. A Scorsese picture is an event and when you combine what sounds like addictive actorly narcotic (insane asylum setting!) and a cinema friendly plot with this enticing cast ... well, it's an embarrassment of (potential) riches, isn't it?

What we have here is a highly anticipated picture but it could also be an Oscar hopeful, too. How sweet would it be to see Mortimer & Clarkson taking up the semi-annual 'two supporting actress nominees from one film' tradition? And how far ahead of myself am I getting!? Too far. Pull it back, pull it back. (whew. it's not time for that yet. April 1st Nathaniel, April 1st)

Ruffalo, Haley, Williams and DiCaprio on set (photos from Just Jared)

Not that Shutter Island (also known by its alternate title Ashecliffe) will have to bear the weight of golden expectations. The Departed finally put that "Give Scorsese the Oscar!!!" cause to rest. Finally we can get back to the more important business of enjoying his mad cinematic skillz. Great movies (and we hope it is one) are their own reward.

On the other hand, aren't we going to run out of Lehane novels to adapt pretty soon?

In case you missed any entries they went like so...
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We Can't Wait:
#1 Inglourious Basterds, #2 Where the Wild Things Are, #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox,
#4 Avatar, #5 Bright Star, #6 Shutter Island, #7 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
#8 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, #9 Nailed, #10 Taking Woodstock,
#11 Watchmen, #12 The Hurt Locker, #13 The Road, #14 The Tree of Life
#15 Away We Go, #16 500 Days of Summer, #17 Drag Me To Hell,
#18 Whatever Works, #19 Broken Embraces, #20 Nine (the musical)
intro (orphans -didn't make group list)
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Underappreciated Films of 2008 / Rental Suggestions

Year in Review Part 4 of 5

"Overrated" and "Underrated" are loaded statements when it comes to the critical and popular reception of movies. They suggest a false notion that there exists an easily cited consensus but depending on who you read and where you get your information consensus may vary. Which means it isn't consensus. Confusing. "Underappreciated", my preferred appellation, has its limits too. It suggests that one can't include films with decent to huge box office so for this year's "Underappreciated" roundup I'm spotlighting films that almost no one saw (along with their gross to prove it). They're not perfect but still worth a look.

READ THE REST...

Surely you'll agree that Ludivine Sagnier is luscious no matter how many lovers she's juggling, The Fall's hospital bedside storytelling device is more successful than The Curious Case of Benjamin Button's, and that Ben Kingsley (Elegy) is far more convincing as a sexual magnet than Philip Seymour Hoffman (Synecdoche New York). Also discussed: Ciao, Turn the River and Trouble the Water
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Which films do you think deserved more attention this year?

also in the year in review
Top Twelve Films (Best of the Year)
Hyperboles Gone Wild (Over Appreciated Films)
Hell's Multiplex (Worst Films & Performances)
FiLM BiTCH Awards Promo (because we love motion pictures)
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The Mystery of Junkets (and Patricia Clarkson)

Lately I've been nibbling at a few junkets. I don't mean nibbling as in food (though food is present) but nibbling at the idea of actually being there. I'm sort of in denial. I don't really dig the roundtables. I much prefer the awesome one-on-ones I've had with folks like Marisa Tomei, Max von Sydow and Jennifer Jason Leigh. But work is work and there's always Oscar season for a return to the one on ones. I've written up another piece (on Elegy this time) for Tribeca Film --they've been good to me lately. Yay them.

The odd thing is that one on one interviews feel remarkably less schmoozy and more honest. You'd think being alone with a star would be more schmoozy. But it's not. It levels things off. You're somehow equals, even if your accomplishments are rather obviously not. But in a room full of other writers, journos and whomevers it can get really blurb whore & slobbery. The most frustrating thing for me is that I'm a conversational interviewer by nature and you can't do follow up questions @ press conferences or junkets. The talent needs to answer and move on.

I'll share an example and if you love Patricia Clarkson as much as I do you'll be interested. I'm stammering my way through a complicated question [note to self: save those for the 'one on ones' dummy!] summing up my theory about her career (see previous article) and how she moved from wiseacre supporting gal to best friend/betrayer (Dogville / Far From Heaven). I'm thrilled that she's now entered a third phase: a womanly sexual phase [editors note: If Married Life or Elegy were men rather than celluloid, they'd be boinking her]. What I'm trying to get at is this: Is it a conscious choice to steer her career into and out of these "types" or is she just grabbing parts she likes? Patty, smiling, nods her head at the connection I'm making between Married Life (review) and Elegy and jumps in...

Yes, the Dogville days are over. THANK GOD the Dogville days are over...

...I swear there's a quick look between her and her director Isabel Coixet and then Patty segueways into why she said yes to Elegy so swiftly. Meanwhile I'm left to ponder the infinite meanings this sentence, her voice raising and the glance to the side may have meant.

• Does she not know how gobsmackingly brilliant she is in Dogville?
• Perhaps she secretly cherishes Hummel figurines?
  
• Did she have a miserable stay in Denmark?
• Is she merely relieved to finally be using her sexuality onscreen? (Dogville's Vera was quite a pissy frump and Patty in person is hot stuff)
• Does Coixet know Von Trier ...or maybe they've talked about him?
• Is Patty just annoyed that I've momentarily steered away from Elegy even if my point is about Elegy? She's there to promote Elegy.
  

I'll never know. It will haunt my dreams. But at least I got to stare at Patty for 20 minutes. There are far worse fates.

(sing with me now) might as well face it,
you're addicted to Patty

Elegy opens today in major markets. If you've been itching for some genuinely adult drama after this summer of capes, tights, toons and explosions, you'll be relieved watching it. Fine performances all around I must say.
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Do I look good? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Penélope Erotique

Today's Hump Day Hottie: Penélope Cruz

The mythological Penelope, wife to Odysseus, was reportedly faithful to her man in body. Maybe not in spirit, though. She yearned to "display herself to her suitors, fan their hearts, inflame them more" The increasingingly mythologized Penélope Cruz will be doing all those things to moviegoers and recent Volver converts once Elegy hits screens in August. The movie, directed by Isabel Coixet (My Life Without Me) is based on Philip Roth's novel The Dying Animal and it's a goodie.

I'm not sure how much more luscious one woman can become but Penélope seems ready and willing to continue ripening. She's ravishing in the movie as Ben Kingsley's MFA student turned lover. More importantly her performance is very strong. She holds her own against Patricia Clarkson and Sir Ben Kingsley. And she does that in English! Will wonders never cease? Seriously now, what have Javier Bardem and Pedro Almódovar been doing to her these past couple of years? Whatever it is, I love it and I thank them... and I thank Penélope herself. In the end it's the woman herself who must unlock her inner movie-star goddess. Maybe European readers are laughing at how long it took us to recognize her worth but in our defense, she used to be pretty bad in English language movies.

I've remarked upon it before and I realize it's mean-spirited to point out but I can't help it: dumping Tom Cruise is the greatest all natural talent booster an actress can experience. We all know what happened to Nicole Kidman directly after the breakup and Penélope too these past few years. Tom Cruise may be free of those pesky body thetans that cluster in all us non-Scientologists but I'm guessing his sperm is clustered with stuff we don't have... a unique talent-unlocking enzyme. I'm not trying to wish a rocky marriage upon Katie Holmes (he can keep her) but I absolutely demand that every ungreat or underappreciated Hollywood actress sleeps with him this year and dumps him the following morning. Tom is tireless and focused so he could handle it. Think of the benefits for the world. Imagine the explosion of actressy triumphs we could see in movie theaters by 2010 and for many years thereafter.


It's the least Tom Cruise could do for the cinema.
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Ben. Jeff. Willem. Jesse. Alan.

The Countdown begins again. I don't really mean to drag this out so much but real life is invading my reel life. The new gentlemen to be added to the Top 100 list? M. Cumming, Kingsley, Dafoe, Eisenberg, and Daniels. Read all about it. I'll try to get more up sooner rather than later.

Thursday Triple: Great 80s Oscar Losers

You can't see me but I'm bouncing off the walls. Drinking whole pots of coffee before 8 AM. Planning my Oscar Party. Writing. Trying to push this hellfire and brimstone vision out of my head. But I can't stop ~ It's Oscar Week.

Because I'm so sweet (and over-caffeinated) you get a triple "triple" today. This is Part One. I dedicate this to the people who deserve to win on Sunday night but who will surely lose. Heathcliff, I'm speaking to you! You aren't the first. You won't be the last.

3 Great Oscar Losing Lead Performances of the 80s
(I've excluded Pfeiffer and Turner from the running since we've already discussed both -click their names for a refresher on the discussions, if you will)



Dustin Hoffman's "Tootsie" loses to Ben Kingsley's "Gandhi" in (82)
One of the many times when playing a historical character cinched someone an Oscar that woulda been otherwise hard fought. Sir Kingsley is a superb talent so this isn't a knock against him so much as a "hello, have you seen what Dustin Hoffman does in Tootsie". That's a miracle of a performance in an amazing American comedy. I think it's Hoffman's best performance. All-Time. One of the best comedic performances. All-Time. There's no convincing me otherwise.

Glenn Close's "Fatal Attraction" loses to "Moonstruck" Cher (87)
I was a Cher-aholic in 1987 along with the rest of the known universe. "Baby I Found Someone" rocked that silly portable radio ghetto blaster in my bedroom. She got me babe. I was all about Cherilyn's trifecta that year: Witches of Eastwick, Suspect, and finally the Cher-apotheosis known as Moonstruck. But 20 years later... I can still hear Alex Forrest's threatening voice, can't you? 'She's not going to be ignored.'

Glenn Close's "Liaisons" lose to "The Accused" Jodie Foster (88)
If you are Glenn Close, you are probably still pissed.
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Previous Thursday Triples:
Cross-Eyed Divas
Nature Boys