DVDs: Tea Parties, Sex Education, and Magick Lanterns

What's out on DVD today and which will you be watching?

Sherlock, Dr. Watson and tag-along Jenny. She likes older men, y'see.

• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
  I pray that Jason Lee is doing charitable things with the money. Did this make money or were the gods merciful and there'll be no Threequel which is a less offensive word than Squeakquel you must admit
  
• An Education
  Time to find out what all the 2009's Mulliganza! was all about if you didn't catch this coming of age breakout the first time around. If you did, enjoy the detailed supporting work the second time around. How the hell does Emma Thompson pack so much punch into her every line?
• The Baader Meinhof Complex
  
Germanic movie star roll call ahead. The German Oscar nominee hits DVD so you can find out if it deserved to lose to Japan's Departures. You can already 'watch instantly' on Netflix.

• Sherlock Holmes
  The performances are enjoyable but to tell you the truth the central mystery bored me (since you couldn't play along at all). What I found most mysterious was this: what is Rachel McAdams doing with her career? And why could you barely see her through the immense costumes?
  

and a couple of classics...

• Alice in Wonderland "Special UnAnniversary Edition"
  I haven't seen Disney's version in years and years but when I was a wee tyke I lived for the Cheshire Cat. You are not surprised. You know about my cat fixation, surely.
  
• Kenneth Anger's Complete Magick Lantern Cycle
  I haven't seen 2/3rds of this avant-garde landmark collection. Yes, I am ashamed.
  

Which of these DVDs does Nathaniel have to post about next Monday?
Boss him around with your vote! (Last week you made him watch Fantastic Mr Fox)

poll by twiigs.com

You chose AN EDUCATION. Here's the Write Up.

What Did You See Over Christmas?

Spent the weekend with food, friends and a stack of DVDs. At the movie theater I tried to see Avatar a second time but failed (I'm holding out for the IMAX experience but it's eternally sold out... at least for people like me who don't plan things weeks in advance). We went to Sherlock Holmes since you have to see a movie with friends and family on Christmas day. It's tradition. And judging on the box office results (biggest Christmas weekend ever) I assume that's tradition for just about everyone.

1. Avatar $75 (for a $212 total)
   It's already earned over $600 million worldwide so it looks like they won't lose their shirts, even with that unthinkably monstrous budget. The world's most important question [cough] right now is this: Will James Cameron make us wait 12 more years for his 9th film? And will it be a sequel to this one? He does like the number 2s. If I were him I'd be figuring out a way to speed up. You don't have to reinvent the wheel every time. How about mixing it up with one for the fans and one for yourself? His gap between films used to be only three years. Unsolicited advice for Cameron: Have dinner with Soderbergh, Allen and Eastwood and ask for tips on how to start filming your next movie before you've finished post on your current one while also writing the next next one.
   
2. Sherlock Holmes $65.3
   I had a gay old time. But something was missing... just can't quite figure out what. It wasn't the chemistry between Jude & RDJ which was very much present. The score was also top notch, the best from Hans Zimmer in quite some time, yes?


3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel $50.2


4. It's Complicated $22.1
   People aren't talking about this since the top two are hogging the attention but this is Meryl Streep's third best headliner opening ever. (After Mamma Mia and The Devil Wears Prada, her two biggest hits if you don't adjust for inflation). There's just no stopping her.
   
   
   I have this theory that you can tell how well a star is loved by how little they're defaced in the subways. Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts etcetera... their faces never last long without "cosmetic adjustments" from sharpie carrying haters. Meryl Streep on the other hand often goes untouched. Respect! I was surprised to see this billboard scribbled on but the jokesters are just dissing Alec Baldwin and making reference to his various wife/daughter troubles over the years. Doesn't it seem like a million years ago when people hated Alec Baldwin for being a jerk? 30 Rock sure changed public perceptions. The charming lived charmed lives, don't you think?
   
5. Up in the Air $11.7 (for a $24.5 total)
   
6. The Blind Side $11.7 (for a $184.3 total)
   My god. This film lost over 600 screens and it was still up 17% in its sixth week. Sandra is totally going to take this past $200 million. Unbelievable. Why on earth is this such a sensation?
   
7. The Princess and the Frog $8.6 (for a $63.3 total)


8. Nine $5.5 (for a $5.9 total)
   This film cost $80 million to make. I fear for the musical genre. Hollywood forgives action flops and flops from big male stars all the time. But I'm not sure they'll forgive this any more than they forgive flops from female stars. They like to draw immediate unpleasant and untrue conclusions in those instances so I imagine we'll hear a round of "no one likes musicals! we're not making any more musicals!" panic. I still adamantly believe that this would have made more money opening for Thanksgiving as originally intended when the competition wasn't so insane and the buzz was still fresh. But it's also a "problem" musical in terms of the difficulty of transferring it from stage to screen.
   
9. Did You Hear About the Morgans? $5 (for a $15.5 total)
   
10. Invictus $4.3 (for a $23.3 total)
    More on this one tomorrow.

What did you see?

Nine (my review)? Avatar (previous posts)? Morgan Freeman giving good speech in Invictus? Meryl getting high in It's Complicated? Or Jude & Robert flirtatiously bickering in Sherlock Holmes? If you saw the thing with the chipmunks instead of any of these, just lie about it in the comments. No one will ever now... it's the internet!
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Wishful Linking

That Little Round Headed Boy has a fun insightful piece on Amelia and "serious" acting
Gold Derby Ricky Gervais to host the Golden Globes this year
ticklepickleme & elliptical edits thrill to the sight of Julianne Moore in A Single Man and in person. I am officially jealous
The Critical Condition has a change of heart about Where the Wild Things Are. Good read
A Blog Next Door appreciates Dollhouse when its icky ethically. As do I
I Need My Fix Emily Blunt & Matt Damon on the set of The Adjustment Bureau


Gawker Paul Haggis (Crash) resigns publicly from Scientology over gay rights. Quelle Scandale!
Gallery of the Absurd twists Mel Gibson's upcoming Beaver picture
wowOwow great and lengthy piece on Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone Penn Ritchie by the one and only Liz Smith
Boy Culture speaking of the big M, did you hear about her gift to Glee?
Towleroad gay neo-nazi drama Brotherhood wins the Rome Film Festival
Art of the Title Sequence on Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. They used Olivia Newton-John's "Xanadu"?!? Now, I have to see this movie
Noh Way on Carrie Fisher's family tree and her broadway outing in Wishful Drinking

And to send you on your way or off to the comments (I always root for the latter) the Sherlock Holmes poster...


Guy Ritchie has made five films prior to this rethink of a classic franchise. None have opened wide in the US to this date (Snatch, his biggest hit here and elsewhere eventually played in 1,444 US theaters but it started in one). Christmas competition will be ridiculously fierce: Avatar will be enjoying (?) its second weekend, two top Oscar hopefuls will go wide (that's Nine and Up in the Air), Meryl Streep's latest comedy It's Complicated debuts, and finally families without taste will presumably flock to that "squeakquel" [*gag*] in droves... I just can't bring myself to type the whole title. Weirdly The Lovely Bones is not going wide until January... I guess Peter Jackson isn't concerned with being to Christmas what Will Smith once was to the 4th of July. But the holiday weekend is super crowded even without him. It's so much competition... so why do I feel like Sherlock Holmes is going to be huge? I'm guessing it opens with a US gross that tops the size of all of Guy Ritchie's previous US grosses combined. (It'd need about $40 million to do that). Doesn't it just seem like the right unexpected-but-familiar topic with the right actually-talented cast at the right time of year?
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Oscar Predictions September

Though I needed to update my prediction charts (done!) it always feels a bit foolish to do so immediately before the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals where buzz suddenly dissipates, congeals, ferments, explodes, flip-flops or otherwise ch-ch-ch-changeeesssss.


In the new charts you'll find big losses for Avatar. It's not that I haven't lost faith in James Cameron's ability to deliver a spectacle but that so much of the film appears to be entirely CGI. It'll have natural disadvantages in some of the categories I expected it to be a contender in because AMPAS still prefers the weight of actual objects and the atmosphere of actual sets to CGI generated ones. Which is probably a good thing when it all shakes out.

With so many big or baity or intriguing looking movies moving to 2010 (The Wolf Man, The Tempest, Shutter Island) and still more not truly settled release date or distribution wise there's a lot of movement in the charts. I'm probably taking a big risk predicting so many nominations for Sherlock Holmes for example and there's maybe not enough here for Up in the Air which is just beginning to hum rather than buzz yet. Guy Ritchie does not make people scream "OSCAR!" but the below the line team is delicious Academy bait, if you ask me. I mean: Philipe Rousellot behind the camera, Jenny Beavan's costume design magic, Sarah Greenwood heading up art direction and sets, um ... yes please!

We -- and by we I mean everyone who predicts Oscars professionally on the web and everyone who does so at home -- always think we know more about the acting categories in early September than we ever ever do. Keep that in mind when you're looking at anyone's predictions. It's not over till it's over and in fact it's barely begun. Expect shake ups to come. But where?

Index of Predicted Nominations | Picture | Director | Actor | Actress | Supporting Actor | Supporting Actress | Screenplay | Costume Design | Technical Categories (Visual) | Technical Categories (Aural) | Animation

Keep in mind these charts do not reflect my opinion of worth (that's what I sprinkle throughout my editorials throughout the year) but my sometimes faulty sometimes incisive prophesies about what Oscar will glom onto.

I'd also suggest reading the Film School Rejects long but necessary explanation of the new voting roles to determine "Best Picture" (if you haven't already). No, it's no longer as simple as checking the box by your favorite film's name.

turn and face the strange ch-ch-changessss

The foreign film pages and the actress psychic point totals (thus far) will be up as soon as I can manage. But in the meantime, discuss. Who'd I forget. Which film do you think is going to firm up its release date in time? Are there any more delays coming? Pull out your crystal golden ball in the comments...

The Lovely Links

But first... The Lovely Bones trailer with intro by Peter Jackson. Are you counting down the days? Have you read the novel?



Does this make you more or less confident in regards to its Oscar and/or box office potential?

links...
Cinematical Hugh Jackman to make a circus musical on P.T. Barnum. Anne Hathaway and Mika sought out for contributions? You don't say...
Only Good Movies picks 25 must see military themed pictures -- nice variety of genres represented here.
AV Club weighs in on the probably crappy GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra's decision to skip the usual screenings for critics. Nevertheless some critics in the fanboy community have seen it / like it. I wonder what will happen to film criticism in the long run now that the critical community is going to be even less diverse than it already was. Doesn't it seem like most people writing about movies these days are of the genre-loving geek variety? Nothing wrong with being a genre-loving geek but it doesn't seem like that makes for a good representative pool for critical discussions of film aesthetics you know? I'm just thinking out loud. Don't mind me.

/Films a new Little Red Riding Hood feature? Sure. Why not actually?
Pop Hangover if plots reflected movie posters
Kirk Demarais offers up "family portraits" of movie clans. I love it though I would've chosen different families had I come up with the idea myself. Cursed self! Where are those ideas this month?
IndieWire Young Victoria to close Toronto. My god that movie is taking a long time to get to America
Kenneth in the (212) sticks it to the reliably dumbass "critic" Michael Medved in regards to those gay Sherlock Holmes rumors
Strange Culture looks at Oscar statistics regarding first time director nominations. Which newbies in the race this year do you think have the best shot?

The Father Link (plus Sherlock Holmes)

<-- Jude Law with his daughter.

Anne Thompson Father's Day Favorites
A Socialite's Life "Hollywood's Hottest Dads"
By Ken Levine entertainments to avoid on father's day
Pop Hangover Dad Awards (television related)
In Contention Top 10 Movies I Watched With My Dad
previous post What movie reminds you of your Dad? Join in the comment sharing.

And more Jude Law because I'm in the mood. Not that that particular mood is infrequent... quite the contrary. Here's the new character posters for Sherlock Holmes. I realize I've put them in reverse billing order but in my world Jude Law goes before Robert Downey Jr (not a knock on the always entertaining RDJ, just a preference) so it's elementary that Dear Watson goes first.


Billing is often so weird. Did you know, for example that Debra Winger had top billing in Terms of Endearment over Maclaine and Nicholson? (That's on my brain because of the 1982/1983 Oscar rundown).

I'm sure it made sense at the time...
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related article: Jude Law #1 Actor of the Aughts 2000-2005. Please note: this list will be revised in January 2010 to reflect the entire decade.

Spring Fever and Sherlock Holmes

In my latest column @ Towleroad I'm covering gay interest films at Cannes including Lou Ye's (Summer Palace) new provocation Spring Fever which IndieWire is likening to a Chinese Shortbus for its explicit apparently unsimulated gay sex. There's also a bit on the ongoing interweguments about how much "bromance" we'll actually witness in the new Sherlock Holmes. Jude Law does like to play with his sexuality onscreen. He's such an actress in that way.

Rosengje @ ShoWest

Rosengje, a regular commenter here @ the Film Experience, sent me some thoughts from ShoWest, the motion picture industry convention which ends today, to share with y'all. I'm all about sharing. I haven't been to Vegas in years -- never really enjoyed it -- but I admit jealousy since so many blogposts and tweets were flying at me directly from Sin City.

Here's Rosengje....

The primary topic of conversation at ShoWest has been the digital and 3D revolution. Jeffrey Katzenberg's commitment to converting as many theaters as possible to 3D prior to the release of Monsters vs. Aliens was highlighted in Jim Gianopulos's opening remarks. (Incidentally, can anyone think of Gianopulos without reminiscing about Mickey Rourke's ill-fated attempt to thank the Fox honcho during the Spirit Awards?) The K in Dreamworks SKG made a special appearance and participated in a panel on "How to Stay Ahead of the Curve as the Industry Confronts the Future."

There was a lot of self-congratulating: the success of Monsters vs. Aliens and the industry's proven strength despite the recession were both highlighted. The tone quickly shifted during the panel, as Katzenberg was increasingly pitted against the exhibitors. The undeniable rock star of the event was Cinemark's Lee Roy Mitchell. Mitchell was interrupted three times for applause, primarily over encouraging distributors to help bear the cost of the digital conversion. Mitchell emphasized the importance of giving breaks to small towns in order to encourage digital appreciation in under-served markets.

Most relevant to the Oscar race was the discussion over the importance of programming a 52-week year. As any good Oscar watcher knows, studios relentlessly push their product to late fall. Not only does this limit audience investment in the outcome of the myriad awards bodies, but it leaves cinephiles with limited reasons to frequent the theater during off-peak months. This topic was broached, but with a mainstream focus. Almost all of the exhibitors protested the summer blockbuster glut. Perhaps the success of Monsters last weekend can help shift this paradigm.

Tuesday morning featured a presentation from Alan Horn on Warner Brothers' summer schedule. McG made an appearance to introduce a 5-minute preview of Terminator: Salvation. An extended trailer for upcoming comedy The Hangover surprisingly got huge laughs. Alas, those presentations paled in comparison to a surprise appearance by Robert Downey, Jr. to introduce the first trailer for Sherlock Holmes. The footage looked slightly campier than anticipated, but RDJ and Jude Law had a clearly defined camaraderie and Rachel McAdams provided a great spark.

I can never decided whether to be enthused about this film or not. Any suspicions out there? Seems like a wildcard equation what with Guy Ritchie behind the camera x totally brilliant cast ÷ dusty franchise character = ??? What exactly?

The most exciting development on Tuesday was the Disney Digital 3D Presentation. The audience was treated to previews of Disney's 3D projects through 2011. This included early artwork for Alice in Wonderland, in which Anne Hathaway looks divine, Tron 2 and G-Force. Disney made a number of exciting announcements. Alongside the release of Cars 2, Pixar will provide "Cars Toons." Cars is my least favorite offering in their oeuvre, but "Tokyo Mater" was endearing. The same model they'll be using for the 3D rereleases of the Toy Story movies will be applied to a 3D release of Beauty and the Beast in February 2010. This is the decision I found most problematic. We were treated to Beauty's opening song in 3D and while it is a novel experience, it seemed redundant.

Er... I'm trying to imagine this with more shadows or something.

The real, treat, however, was ushered in by the arrival of Up director Pete Doctor (Monsters Inc). Pete introduced 47 (!) minutes of footage from the film. The movie looks to continue Pixar's unbeatable cinematic magic streak. The movie played slightly less cerebral and more mainstream than WALL-E, but still featured heavy elements like the death of the main character's wife early on in the proceedings. Pixar's approach to 3D varies quite a bit from the other products that have been previewed thus far. Instead of seeking "wow" moments, the technique is deployed to heighten the spectator's emotional connection to the screen. This includes strategic flattening of images or expansion to grant a scene a more dynamic quality. We were also shown an action sequence at the end of the film that was just as thrilling as those featured in Paramount's G.I. Joe trailer.

A little more a little bit later from Rosengje. I wish I could've taken in the Vegas sun (so gray here) with Rosengje and me pal Katey among other film folks... but I'll get a little film-related travelling of my own this month. I'm jurying the Nashville Film Festival in a couple of weeks and will report about that right here. Nicole Kidman has been known to show up at screenings there so wish me luck at spotting the goddess or any star wattage equivalent... not that there's a Kidman equivalent. There's only one!
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"Great Performers" and Fine Portraits

I always love the mid February edition of the NY Times Magazine. It tends to capture several Oscar nominees but spreads its net wider, too. One could say it's like a miniature version of Vanity Fair's traditional "Hollywood Issue". It then celebrates the handpicked field of glitterati with portraiture sessions. This year's man behind the lens is the award winning Italian photographer Paolo Pellegrin.


His subjects are almost entirely Oscary this year (shame. I liked the variety) with Kate Winslet as covergirl. Who else? She's in hair rollers for the cover but this photo above is my favorite still from her shoot. I love how bright-morning over lit she is and, it's so... red. The write up by author Tom Perotta (Little Children) is surprisingly interesting too in that, while very flattering, it's not entirely a puff piece. He expresses brief concerns about some career decisions and the way Winslet sometimes overemphasizes her dissimilarity to her unsympathetic characters on the promotional circuit.

Inside the magazine you get Mickey Rourke, Sean Penn, Penélope Cruz, Brad Pitt, Frank Langella and Robert Downey Jr. (pictured left with Jude Law on the set of Sherlock Holmes). The sole Off Oscar player for this round is rising star Kat Dennings who is profiled by her 40 Year-Old Virgin mom, Catherine Keener.

The highlight for me? I'm sure you've already guessed it. The entire Penélope Cruz section. It's got wonderful images and a profile by Pedro Almodóvar himself, including this actress-extravagant bit

Cruz belongs to the Mediterranean school of acting, a style that is characterized by its carnality, gutsiness, shamelessness, messy hair, generous cleavage and shouting as a natural form of communication. Anna Magnani, Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, the early Silvia Mangano, even Elizabeth Taylor and Rachel Weisz, mastered this style. Penélope's Raimunda in "Volver" was modeled on Magnani, Loren and Cardinale, and I guess that it was the mesy-haired, loud-voiced Penélope that inspired Woody Allen to cast her as the mentally unstable artist in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," a role for which in the past few months she seems to receive an award every other day.

If the profile weren't generous enough we even get several shots of Pené rehearsing her big dance number in Nine. [see many previous posts]

"Coochie coochie coochie coo... / I've got a plan for what I'm gonna do to you
So hot! / You're gonna steam and scream / And vibrate like a string..."

Yes please! More, more, more.

For more on any of these topics, just chase the labels below. Thanks for visiting The Film Experience.
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'Elementary, My Dear Jude'

Just Jared has been busily documenting the filming of Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr as the detective and Jude Law as his dear Mr. Watson.

no pipe or monocles --what gives?

My favorite thing about the photos so far is that Guy appears to be borrowing from the wardrobe trailer. He's wearing the same period suspenders and pants as the cast. Despite the intent to make it "fresh" they're obviously sticking with period. Sarah Greenwood of Atonement fame is doing the production design. I haven't yet heard who has designed the threads they're all wearing here.

I would've never thought to pair RDJ & Jude but I'm always happy to see either onscreen so I'll be looking forward to this one in 2009.