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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LFF: Three Degrees of Love

Dave here, with the first of this week's daily reports from the LONDON FILM FESTIVAL, which is due to hit the unsuspecting public on Wednesday, but things have already brightened up for me now that I've moved into a rather grotty hotel. In a manner of speaking.

The first real success I've seen, A Single Man is a sensual, poetic, and really quite ravishing drama from fashion designer Tom Ford. It's a beautifully designed, stylish, effortlessly attractive film, and Ford's cinema-adjusted eye has a particular knack for the bodily, as you might expect - but all the stylistic flourishes tie into his own adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's novel with bountiful meaning. Particularly notable is his use of colour - dull and grey reflection of George's (Colin Firth) grief and depression frequently blossoms into sumptuous saturated colour, spurred by lust, laughter, or sometimes just the infectious spirit of youth. Slow-motion sequences set to flourishing violins strongly recollect Wong Kar-Wai, and there are probably other reference points you could pick out, but it doesn't feel like any sort of pastiche. Despite the novelistic origins, it feels like an intensely personal piece of work. The sombre drama the tragic beginning promises doesn't proceed; instead, a delicate, gently amusing, introspective story develops, with Nicholas Hoult and Julianne Moore delivering intriguing slivers about their characters, but both are seemingly hooked, as we are, on George. And Firth, for the first time in my memory, delivers a stunning performance. I'm not sure if Oscar will bite, but I did, and it tasted slightly wonderful. B+

You might react differently to me on hearing that 44 Inch Chest is from the writers of Sexy Beast (personally the reaction was one of indifference), but you won't fail to spot the most obvious connection between them. Perhaps getting John Hurt to shoot his f***ing mouth off isn't as big a coup as getting Sir Ben Kingsley to do it, but there's still some perverse delight in hearing all variety of swear words in that inimitably sonorous, slightly gruff voice. Perhaps it's the same perverse delight that comes from seeing the frighteningly imposing Ian McShane play a tough, calm and calculating gangster-type who just happens to wear sharp suits and like having naked men lie on his sofas. It's certainly more interesting than the central dilemma of this stagey, surprisingly introspective drama, which would be more impressive if it had anything perceptive to inspect. I suppose you have to give Ray Winstone points for dedicating himself (and his tear ducts) so fully to his cuckholded character's crisis of masculinity, but despite having access to his mangled brain's hallucinations, there's nothing emotionally incisive or funny enough here to make this worthwhile. C

Finally, Bruno Dumont's Hadewijch, which can easily take the title of most interesting screening thus far, even if all that interest ends up feeling rather impotent. The story of Céline's (newcomer Julie Sokolowski) passionate dedication to her God occasionally provides an oddly bewitching moment, but for the most part, Dumont's detached style (emphasized by his strongly realistic manipulation of the sounscape) keeps us distant and mystified about her decisions and behaviour, and the flashback (one assumes) coda's attempt to explain the lead up to the tragic ending feel like a cheap and poorly constructed addition. D+

Feel free to ask any probing questions if you'd like me to elaborate in the comments. I'll be back tomorrow with news of Samson, Delilah, and Robert Mugabe.

Tuesday Top Ten: New Academy Members

for the list maker in me and the list lover in you

The Oscars used to hide their membership roster like they hide the final vote tallies. But for the past few years they've been letting us know who they've invited into their 6000 wide flock. They're trying to keep their numbers stable so we figure they're only passing out as many invites as people who die. It's too much to hope that they're jettisoning members who voted for A Beautiful Mind or Driving Miss Daisy. Of course even knowing who they've invited doesn't tell enough of the story since we don't know who is already in... and thus who is still snubbed. You can see the full list here but I'm sharing my choices for their most interesting choices.

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10 David Benioff (Writer) -Mr. Amanda Peet is a perfect example to me of how hard it is to judge talent in Hollywood, film being a collaborative enterprise. Answer me this: How do you write something as nuanced, intelligent and amazing as 25th Hour and then churn out something like his desecration of The Iliad with the über dumb Troy and then do The Kite Runner? I can't figure him out. Is everyone in Hollywood this hot and cold? And if so is that why the Oscars are so uneven in their discernment capabilities?

09 Allison Janney (Actor) Everyone loves Janney and I assume this invitation is at least partially due to the afterglow of Juno (Ellen Page, curiously, was not invited though Janney, Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman all were) but she's more of a TV star than anything. I include her because I think this choice is probably representative of how incestuous the film and TV academies have really become.

08 Kimberly Peirce (Director) This was a wise choice since she'll have plenty of time to watch all the movies each year since she never makes any. I kid, I kid... But seriously the Boys Don't Cry / Stop-Loss auteur has only two film credits. How ever does she pay her rent? Untitled 3rd Kimberly Peirce Project: coming to theaters near you in 2016!

07 Jet Li (Actor) I like Jet Li well enough but this made me scratch my head a bit. That said I applaud their obvious desire to get more international and racially diverse these past few years.

06 Barry Alexander Brown (Editor) He was Oscar-nominated once nearly 30 years ago in the documentary category. Inbetween then and now he's done great editing work on films as diverse as Salaam Bombay!, Madonna's Truth or Dare and several Spike Lee films including his three best films (Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X and 25th Hour) . So why invite him now... and not many moons ago? Could this be a precursor to more Oscar attention for Spike Lee joints?

05 Peyton Reed (Director) I've been pulling for him ever since falling in love with Bring it On, his first picture. He hasn't made a picture as good since but I still hope he will. It's an interesting choice since he works almost exclusively in very mainstream comedies which is the last place Oscar looks for people worth nominating.

04 Dylan Tichenor (Editor) I just love him is all. You should too. He's only been the lead editor on nine films but most of them have amazing rhythms and play just ever so smoothly: Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Brokeback Mountain and The Royal Tenenbaums... What a filmography.

03 Ray Winstone (Actor) Most cinephiles will be enthused about this choice. He's made valuable contributions to ensemble films (The Departed) solid popcorn fun (Beowulf... all CGI slimmed-down) and memorable indies (Sexy Beast). Good choice Academy.

02 Jack Fisk (Art Director) Color me astonished that Mr. Sissy Spacek and favored production designer of both David Lynch and Terence Malick and the Art Director nominee that should have won last year (for There Will Be Blood) is not already a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.


01 Michael Haneke (Director) I have a new obsession: trying to figure out what they were thinking when they decided to invite Michael f***ing Haneke (Caché, The Piano Teacher, Funny Games). He's a genius BUT I can't think of a working auteur more anti-Oscar than he. Can you? He likes to punish audiences rather than coddle them (a big Oscar no-no) and that's just for starters. After I get bored of this new obsession of wondering why they invited him, my next obsession will be enduring. I know myself well enough to know that I will spend hours each and every year moving forward, imagining what his Oscar ballot could possibly look like. My brain will hurt. Give 'em hell, Haneke.
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Are You the One They Call Beowulf?

Things I never expected to see in a major motion picture:

• Angelina Jolie reprising her Alexander role in full: snakey visual motif, unplaceable Dracula's daughter accent, and birth mother to killing machine
  
• Ray Winstone with Brad Pitt's body
• A lengthy animated fight scene wherein the warrior is buck naked
• A dragon battle that's actually thrilling (the movies have never been able to do dragons well --this one made me believe that a film version of the Temeraire series is a good idea )
• A hide the salami scene that's almost as funny as the famous nude Austin Powers sequence
• Crispin Glover all sympathetic instead of just freaky
  

And yet, there they were, all of these improbable things in one place: Robert Zemeckis' gargantuan goofy motion capture spectacle Beowulf.

Read my full review at Zoom-In Online
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Tuesday Top Ten Tantrum

I'm not playing today. You can't make me! 10 things I'm doing instead of writing the top ten...

01 Giggling to myself about Beowulf
02 Eating an apple
03 Wishing someone could do "performance capture" on me. If Ray Winstone can go from this... (left) to this (right) why can't I? Where is Robert Zemeckis when I need him.


04 Cancelling my DVR subscriptions to Bionic Woman and Heroes
05 Bitching to the Boyfriend about how dramatically inert Heroes is and how much it continually promises not to be. Hate it

<--- 06 Petting the kitty
07 Staring at a bill I don't want to open
08 Laughing at Jennifer Coolidge on Nip/Tuck
09 Knowing that I really have to do laundry tomorrow
10 Wishing it were Wednesday so I could be watching Pushing Daisies

Just cuz I won't play Tues Top Ten doesn't mean you can't. Share whatever top ten you'd like in the comments. Or maybe the top ten lists you'd most like to see... What ten things are you doing right now?