The Brave Divisive One

Figured I'd throw this post out there as a makeshift discussion forum (have at it in the comments). * For those who've seen Neil Jordan's "The Brave One" * It's tough to really discuss what's wrong with this movie without venturing deep into spoiler territory [see also: my review]. I hate to get all book club discussion notes on you but here's a place to start: the tag line "how many wrongs to make it right?" What exactly are the wrongs... according to the movie that is?

To the comments with you, chatty ones...

Now Playing: Jodie on "Lockdown" and Viggo in the Showers

Now we're talking. Now it's Fall Movie Season. Last week was just a spaceholder. You can justify a whole weekend sitting in the theater today --look at all the (potentially) yummy stuff.

L I M I T E D
<-- Eastern Promises -Since I haven't yet seen it, this gangster drama with a tattooed naked Viggo Mortenson and Naomi Watts, vulnerable in a world she doesn't know, I decided to focus on how much I've enjoyed director David Cronenberg's past work. Here's my vote for his 3 best. Agree? Disagree?
Across The Universe Help! Julie Taymor has a way with visual invention but early word on her Beatles musical suggest it might be tomatoes and not strawberries tossed her way
Darkon -a doc on wargaming medieval fantasy cult group
December Boys Daniel Radcliffe, in his first movie outside Harry Potter, plays another orphan in this coming of age tale set in Australia in the 60s
In the Valley of Elah early consensus: Tommy Lee Jones is masterful. The movie: jury still out. A friend of mine told me he can't imagine it not winning the Best Picture nomination though. Here's his review
King of California Michael Douglas is a once institutionalized man and Evan Rachel Wood is his (exasperated?) daughter in this suburban comedy

Moondance Alexander another entry in the ancient dramatic subgenre of 'a girl and her horse'. Be warned: the trailer has that annoying happy trailer voice guy doing the voiceover. A note of interest: Sasha Cohen, ice skating queen, plays the mean girl in the movie. She writes about her new acting career on her site
Moving McAllister indie road comedy
The Rape of Europa a doc on art theft in the Nazi regime
Silk (pictured, right) Keira Knightley's latest attempt at world domination through costume dramas. Were it not for another leading role gifted to Michael Pitt (whose appeal completely escapes me --as leading man or actor in general) I'd be interested. The story, a man sent on a silkworm smuggling mission to Japan where he falls into an adulterous romance with a concubine, sounds involving. It's from the team behind The Red Violin

W I D E
Dragon Wars CGI dragons wreak havoc on our world. I swear it is fall movie season
Mr Woodcock Susan Sarandon is back -- twice! -- in movie theaters this weekend. In addition to that apparently cameo like role in Elah, she stars in this comedy as a woman torn between playing earth mom to her son Seann William Scott and sex goddess to his coach Billy Bob Thornton. What will she do? pssst. Join me in pretending that this movie is all about Susan Sarandon and her bifurcated career when it's obviously and totally about the men

and finally...

<-- The Brave One Jodie Foster on the war path. Handsomely made, mostly well acted, likely to be a very big hit, but it's not as conflicted as it pretends and irresponsible in its thrill-making. My grade basically goes like this: Beginning B, Middle C, Finale F [My Full Review]
*

The _____ One

Eager for the new Jodie Foster? I was but... oy vey I can't wait to read the reviews. They should be interesting and varied from loving to loathing. More later (obviously)

Two Top Tens: Fall Film Preview

It’s a Doubled "Tuesday Top Ten". I'm so ready for summer to be over. Let's just hop right into these lists... (I've included links to previous or related posts when applicable)

Ten Fall Movies I Can’t Wait To See

Naturally I should say I Could Never Be Your Woman since it stars Michelle Pfeiffer & Paul Rudd...but, even with a new release date (11/something), I still don't believe it'll coming out. I am intrigued by the cast of Rendition (10/19) but the trailer didn't do a lot for me. Then of course there's vampires (you know my feelings there) on the attack in 30 Days of Night (10/19) which I'm curious about given its graphic novel origins and the various clips I've already seen. But not top 10 curious...

10 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (09/21)
I'm tired of hearing about the editing wars and troubled production. I just want to see the damn movie already, OK?! Still love the title no matter what people say. But then I am fond of that Cop Gives Waitress $2 Million Dollar Tip party game where you retitle a movie with a plotty headline and see if anybody can guess the film. Ever played that? [prev. post]

09 Michael Clayton (10/5) The trailer looks good. Tony Gilroy (the writer /director) is hot off contributions to the Bourne franchise and the cast is to die for: Clooney. Wilkinson. Swinton. Even though this movie is from the TV friendly legal thriller genre I don't object. I don't object at all. [more on Clooney or Swinton]

08 The Brave One (09/14) Similarly I don't normally care a whit about vigilante revenge dramas (usually get distracted by their upsetting politics) but the combination of Neil Jordan and Jodie Foster flipped some kind of switch inside me and I have to see it. [more on Jodie Foster]


07 The Savages (12/26) This movie takes place during the holidays but I still think it's a mistake to wait until the last holiday weekend of the year to open a small scrappy dramedy -- especially one with the Oscar potential --but alas I don't control the Fox Searchlight universe. If Laura Linney's whole performance is as expertly calibrated as her comic punches in the trailer, expect fans to go crazy demanding that overdue Oscar. [more on Linney]

06 Margot at the Wedding (11/16) Loved Squid & Whale. A worthy follow up? [prev post]
05 Eastern Promises (09/14) Loved A History of Violence. A worthy follow up?
04 Lust, Caution (09/28) Loved Brokeback Mountain. A worthy follow up? [prev post]

03 His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (12/07) I can't wait to see what Nicole Kidman does with her tricky glamorous role. This novel is excellent but its wrap up is as unwrapped as the finale of the first installment of The Lord of the Rings. The movie is risking instant comparisons with that epic through its genre, its trilogy status and even its marketing campaign. That's an awfully high bar to have to clear as far as expectations go. [related posts]

02 I’m Not There (11/21) Blanchett, Gere, Ledger, Bale and more as Bob Dylan. Finally a biopic with something more than event+event+event on its mind [related posts]

01 Atonement (12/7) That this adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel would be an Oscar smash was an early hunch that I still feel grand about. Now the trailers and buzz suggest it's a great movie too. That is infinitely more important news. [related posts]

Ten Additional Performances / Things I’m Curious About

10 Amy Adams & James Marsden in Enchanted (11/21) Did they use up the only good stuff in the trailer or does this movie hold gleeful silliness from two game actors? [more on Amy & James]

09 Everyone in The Darjeeling Limited (9/29) We all know that director Wes Anderson favors widescreen compositions and excessively detailed production design. What's less commonly discussed is that his ensembles can be magical. How are Brody, Wilson, Schwartzman, and Huston in this?

08 The Critics and In the Valley of Elah (September) This movie from the over rewarded Oscar magnet Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby) is already leading to some virtual critical tussles. What will the consensus be? Or will there be none?

07 Dakota Blue Richards (The Golden Compass) vs. Saoirse Ronan (Atonement and I Could Never Be Your Woman) Which young blonde actress will be gunning for Dakota Fanning's throne once reviews and box office response comes in?

06 Everyone in Lions for Lambs (11/09) Could Streep, Redford and Cruise all be as bad as they look in that trailer? Yikes.

05 Kate Winslet in Romance and Cigarettes (09/07) Delayed for a very long time but we'll finally get a look at Kate's fiery singing performance that some people are gaga for. Or will we? I can't quite believe it's going to open [more Winslet]

04 The women of The Golden Age (10/12) According to the trailer, Cate Blanchett will be chewing every prop and costume on set in her new star vehicle, a sequel to her star making role in Elizabeth. The bitchy question that I know you're all asking --OK, well I'm asking it at least --is this: Can Samantha Morton or Abbie Cornish upstage her from the sidelines? [supp. actress Oscar race]

03 Woody Allen, still hot lukewarm from Match Point, releases the similarly dark Cassandra’s Dream (11/30). Will it be another sign that he's regained some creative juice or a wobbly step back? [more on Woody]

02 Gerard Butler in P.S. I Love You (12/21) Can he convince people that he loves Hilary Swank? This Herculean acting feat has only ever been successfully completed by Chlöe Sevigny. She got an Oscar nomination for it. Stay tuned. Developing...

01 Helena Bonham-Carter as Mrs. Lovett and Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd (12/21) *bites fingernails* [related posts]

The Linked One

six things ohmygod, it's back!
Just Jared Claire Danes & Hugh Dancy. Celebrities are just like us: they wear an outfit more than once. Imagine it. (I should note that I was gonna feature Dancy as yesterday's HDH. I figured he deserved it since I barely noticed Patrick Wilson in Evening --I know! but blah blah blah... you don't need my excuses.)
<--- look. it's The Brave One poster
Focus Features a better quality preview reel than we saw before. The studio system is long gone --and with it those clear studio identities but there's something special about Focus for the most part, don't you think? [thx]

ONTD Dafoe and Hawke as bloodsuckers in Daybreakers. Ewww and, um, OK. See you there.
Flick Filosopher savors the worst dialogue of 2007.
Go Fug Yourself a shocking "well played" -Bai Ling?
look, the Margot @ poster --->
ModFab crazy ass price tag shock for those hoping to see Young Frankenstein on Broadway. This makes me sick. Mel Brooks is such a greedy problem for me.
MTV Sam Raimi is losing it. Wants yet more villains for Spidey 4. Remember when one was enough in Spider-Man 2 and it was the best superhero film. Those were the days...

Links Foster

<--- just noticed this
my blogfriend Boyd at European Films has a wonderful exclusive photo gallery up from Cannes 07. Including shots of Asia Argento (pictured left which he gave me permission to snatch), Diego Luna, the jury, and several international filmmakers... Check it out if you haven't yet seen it.

Readables
Moviehole Battlestar Galactica --next season, the 4th, is the last
Cinephilia writes a brief open letter to Quentin Tarantino
Coming Soon announced a new dramatic project for Helen Mirren, Gaza, which reunites her with some of the Prime Suspect team. Now this is something you do to follow up an Oscar win --not freaking National Treasure 2. Ugh.
As Little As... I didn't know Patrick Stockstill, AMPAS historian had died.

The Brave One trailer
I had a hunch that this would be a good role for Jodie Foster --and even predicted her for another nomination in the 'early bird' Oscar guesswork. I think the good role hunch is correct. The Oscar nom... who knows. The Brave One just might might be a, like 28 Weeks Later , a genre piece doubling as political allegory. We'll see. I get that vibe a teensy bit from this trailer but it's possible that I'm projecting based on Neil Jordan sitting in the director chair. Before you watch you should probably know that the trailer shows too much. Be warned.

Say What? Brave One

I asked you to entertain us by adding dialogue or a caption to this pic of Jodie from her new thriller, The Brave One. Your winners are...

Vince...

and Rob...



Previously in Jodie Foster:
A History of... Jodie Foster everything you knew + things you never dreamed.
Performances Jan to April a short note on her Inside Man work.
Top 100 Actresses of the Aughts #65. Yeah, you heard me.