"Up" - REVIEW

They've done it again. Those wizards at Pixar have done it again. The winning streak is alive and well, and shows no signs of slowing down. Where other animation studios find themselves struggling to create films with enough sophistication for adults while also entertaining children, Pixar keeps on providing high quality animated pictures that prove their mastery over storytelling and (GASP!) getting one to care about there characters, whether their fish, robots, or a cranky septuagenarian. Wait, a cranky old person? That's the hero of Pixar's latest movie? It's not a cutesy animal or fantastical alien/monster who oozes adorability? Well how on earth will I ever warm up to such a character? The easy answer is: magical storytelling. But why stop there? In a summer that's building to be nothing but loud explosions, ridiculous stunts, and conventional plots, it's worth lavishing praise on one of the true few "standout" movies that 2009 has given us. Even from its opening, we know we're in from something special. In a 10 minute (roughly) prologue, we're introduced to Carl Frederickson (Ed Asner) and his relationship with his eventual wife Ellie. We see them bond as kids, both being adventure seekers, and then see their long marriage. By the time this portion of the movie ends, it's already going to be time to start sniffling and maybe breaking out a tissue. Yup. 10 minutes in, and there's already been more emotional impact than most films of the summer will have in their entire running times. So, with the prologue over, we meet the now-single Carl, still living in his house, surrounded by a growing metropolis. After an accident convinces people that Carl needs to be forcefully taken to a retirement home, Carl gets an idea: carry out the dream that he and Eddie had as kids and find the famed Paradise Falls in South America. Next morning, thousands of balloons hoist his house up and away, but Carl isn't alone. Tagging along is over-eager Wilderness Explorer (like Boy Scouts, only not as annoying) Russell (Jordan Nagai), who has been pestering Carl to let him help him so that he can earn his final merit badge. Once in South America, the somewhat-at-odds duo begin to bond, picking up two odd companions: a speedy rainbow colored bird and a dog with a collar that allows him to speak English. Such characters might have become subject to annoying running gags, but here they're handled brilliantly. Lush animation aside, the story is helped by a script that knows how to be both touching and hilarious, taking jokes that would become tiresome in the hands of others (a character who sounds like he just inhaled a gallon of Helium), and making them feel fresh. Voice acting is great all around, and Michael Giacchino's score, often piano-driven, is lovely on the ears. However, even though it is from the animation gods at Pixar, I have to confess that I was a bit underwhelmed by the actual storytelling. It doesn't always have the flow of other Pixar films like "WALL-E" or "Finding Nemo", because its dialogue sometimes threatens to bog the story down instead of help it; Pixar knows how to make us feel things with little dialogue, as "WALL-E" proved last year, and it's a shame that what dialogue there is sometimes doesn't quite cut it. The movie could have also benefitted from being a little longer, so that the events might have more time to build, and result in a more emotionally satisfying climax. That said, the movie rests on the relationship between Carl and Russel, and it soars in that regard. The two form quite the charming duo, and it all builds to ending that's sweet, charming, and touching without being forced or cloying. Pixar knows how to make us care about there characters, how to make us laugh, whether in a broad way or a sophisticated way, and even knows how to move us without shameless heartstring-pulling. It's one thing to do this once or twice, but to do it in EVERY MOVIE is something remarkable, and it's a goal that most studios, whether in animation OR live action, can only dream of measuring up to.

P.S. From what I've heard, there's really no point in seeing the film in 3-D; you're better off just sticking with a regular showing. After all, who wants to wear a pair of huge glasses just to get a few cheap thrills?

Grade: B+

Number of 2008 Films seen: 15

New photo from "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

Russian poster for "9"

New, not terribly impressive, "GI Joe" clip

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

"Toy Story 3" teaser trailer!

Woody Allen's 2010 London project finds a replacement for Nicole Kidman: Lucy Punch

Source: SlashFilm

Woody Allen is working on his new movie to be filmed in London this Summer, and the cast he’s planned includes Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, Naomi Watts and, until recently, also featured Nicole Kidman. She recently bowed out, however, when the schedule for Rabbit Hole was set and clashed with Woody’s plan.Rabbit Hole took precedence as Kidman is not just acting in it, she’s also producing. As a result, Woody Allen has now replaced Ms. Kidman and his choice is a fascinating one. Against all of my intuition, he’s gone for the British actress Lucy Punch, who you probably know best from CBS sitcom The Class or Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz.

I don’t think Kidman can be blamed for her choice - but what an enviable decision. Each of the two films offered a great writer (Allen or David Lindsay Abaire) and great co-star (see above for the Allen, or Aaron Eckhart).

Two pieces of concept art from "Avatar"

ARGH! I can't believe we have to wait until December to see this! If it lives up to even HALF of the current buzz/hype, it's going to be f-ing mindblowing. Cameron does know how to pull off a spectacle, and Avatar certainly fits into that niche quite well. 

Source: SlashFilm

If you get a slightly King Kong vibe off of this art, you wouldn’t be the only one. Also note that Peter Jackson has written the foreword to The Art of Avatar, the book in which these images - and many, many more - will soon be published.

Here, in the first image you see the full design of a Powersuit. It was just a couple of days back that we saw a partial photograph of a practical suit built for the film. Looking at the full representation here will give you a better sense of its scale.

It seems this particular piece of concept art was well preserved in the final build. Also note the crashed vehicle in the background. From what familiarity I have with the film (from talking to folk, stalking Marketsaw as they stalk Cameron and reading the scriptment and notes) I’d guess that this burning craft is a Samson, a light and fast transit ship with only light armament.

The second image is all new stuff. I think its probably best that you take a look at it before I discuss any of the details.

This one appears to show action from a set piece rather near the end of proceedings. Fleeing in the foreground is another one of the futuristic flying machines (most likely the Dragon Gunship, I think) and behind it is one of the native beasts of Pandora. This one, I think, is a Bansheeray.

There great amount of Pandoran flora and fauna was dreamt up by Cameron to create a very complex alien ecosystem and I think he’s planning to leave it in the background, behind the drama and characterisation. Thankfully, it shouldn’t all be so alien that we won’t be able to understand it – and indeed, the human characters who come to this strange world seem to mostly comprehend the otherness of what they find by referring to it in familiar, Earthly terms.

From Bansheerays to Direwolves, the Leonopteryx to the Direhorse, and of course including the Na’vi, the humanoid natives at the heart of the matter, there’s an awful lot Avatar alienage, the vast majority of it still to be unveiled.

Five new photos from "The Book of Eli" (2010)

Source: SlashFilm.com

Described as a post-apocalyptic western, the film tells the story of a lone man (Denzel Washington) who fights his way across America in order to protect a mysterious sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind. The film is set in the future after the sun has exploded, leaving earth to rot.

The photo above is from a scene where Eli comes upon a fork in the road. He decides to turn right towards a town to power up his iPod and refill his canteen. The article reveals that Washington shed 55 pounds for the role. Gary Oldman plays Carnegie, a town leader who runs the town and wants Eli’s book. 

New "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" trailer

Hopefully a high quality version will be released in the next few days. For now, we'll just have to settle for this...

A first look at the bio-suits from James Cameron's "Avatar"

Exactly how these fit into the story, I'm not sure, but my best guess is that these are what humans have to use in order to explore the alien planet on which the story takes place. Either that, or it's a really kick-ass battle device...

"Inglorious Basterds" heads back to the editing room; Maggie Cheung's scenes officially cut out

Source: CHUD.com

Shortly after Inglourious Basterds premiered to less than overwhelming enthusiasm at Cannes, rumors began to surface that Universal, the co-distributor on the film along with The Weinstein Company, wanted Quentin Tarantino to trim and tighten the film prior to it's August release in the United States. 

Now Tarantino has confirmed to Anne Thompson that he'll do some work on the film. It's widely known that he rushed the movie, formally announced just a year ago, to make the Cannes fest. But Thompson suggests that wasn't due only to a desire to hit the Croisette this year. Tarantino evidently feels that Death Proof didn't benefit from his typical long post-production process, and the Basterds schedule was an intentional departure from his typical pace. 

The film currently runs two hours, 27 minutes; QT had to deliver at 2:46 or less to retain final cut. But he'll go back for "an audience pruning cut" after some test screenings in the states. And while Maggie Cheung's scene(s) won't be reinstated (they didn't make the Cannes cut), a scene introducing Michael Fassbender probably will go back in.

With that running time, the film can almost certainly be cut to a more manageable length. But the primary criticisms have been that Basterds lacks the unpredictability of other Tarantino films, and that's something that may not be possible to inject at this stage. And yet the Best Actor award handed to Christoph Waltz, who plays the 'Jew Hunter' Colonel hans Landa, is enough of an advance nod that Basterds has some glory, no matter the reviews.

EDIT: FOUR new "...Doctor Parnassus" photos

Am I alone in thinking that this picture of the titular Doctor (played by Christopher Plummer) is eerily similar to Michael Gambon's Albus Dumbledore? Separated at birth, perhaps?

New set photos from Ridley Scott's "Robin Hood" (2010)

Source: Slash Film

3 clips from "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"!

L'Imaginarium du docteur Parnassus sur Comme Au Cinema

L'Imaginarium du docteur Parnassus sur Comme Au Cinema

L'Imaginarium du docteur Parnassus sur Comme Au Cinema

Cannes Film Festival 2009 Award Winners!!

Gainsbourg for Best Actress? "Basterd"'s Waltz for Best Actor? Wow. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised about the former, seeing as there were no other female performances generating massive amounts of buzz, and Von Trier does know how to get great performances out of his leading ladies (Watson in "Breaking the Waves", Bjork in "Dancer in the Dark", Kidman in "Dogville"). But after all the wild reactions to the movie as a whole, it's interesting to see that the jury still gave her an award. Of course, the really interesting thing will be to see if any of these major wins carry over to Oscar glory. Remember Benicio Del Toro for "Che" last year? Probably not what most of these winners want to happen to them, unless they enjoy swimming in obscurity....

Source: The New York Times

By Manohla Dargis

CANNES, France — “The White Ribbon,” a meticulous examination of patriarchal domination, won the Palme d’Or at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival on Sunday. Directed by the Austrian-born Michael Haneke and shot in black and white, the much-admired film — a foundation story about National Socialism set in a rural pre-World War I German community — turns on a series of violent events that appear to be the work of some children. In 2001 Mr. Haneke won the Grand Prix (effectively second place) for his harrowing drama “The Piano Teacher,” which starred Isabelle Huppert, president of this year’s competition jury.

The Grand Prix, also announced on Sunday, went to “A Prophet,” a pitch-perfect film from the French director Jacques Audiard about a young inmate who becomes a master criminal during a prison stretch. The film was the critical favorite throughout the festival, and Mr. Audiard received a standing ovation from the audience when he mounted the stage. Far more surprising was the Jury Prize (third place), which was split between “Fish Tank,” a slice of Brit-grit realism from Andrea Arnold, and the neo-exploitation vampire flick “Thirst,”from the South Korean director Park Chan-Wook. Both were booed by the press watching the show via live broadcast.

The director Terry Gilliam, here with the noncompetition film “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” delivered some funny onstage shtick by pretending to accept the directing prize, which he was meant to bestow. (“Terry, you don’t receive, you give,” the host explained, promising that Mr. Gilliam could have something next year if he didn’t create a scandal.) The actual winner of the director award was Brillante Mendoza, from the Philippines, whose grisly, widely loathed shocker, “Kinatay” (“Slaughter”), hinges on a man who doesn’t prevent a murder. The screenwriting award went to Mei Feng for“Spring Fever,” a rather baggy if underappreciated drama about young Chinese malaise.

Ms. Huppert handed the prize for best actress to Charlotte Gainsbourg, who delivers a wild, fearless performance as a grieving mother in “Antichrist,” an English-language film from the Danish director Lars von Trier. It’s easy to imagine that Ms. Huppert and her fellow juror, the actress Asia Argento, both ferocious screen performers, were impressed with the intensity of Ms. Gainsbourg’s performance, which involves a fair amount of nudity and some frantic (and graphic) backwoods masturbation.

The best-actor award for the Austrian Christoph Waltz, who plays a Nazi officer inQuentin Tarantino’s World War II movie, “Inglourious Basterds,” made everyone happy. Speaking in French, English and German, Mr. Waltz called the film an “unbelievable experience,” thanked his co-star Brad Pitt, along with the creator of Mr. Waltz’s “unique and inimitable” character, Colonel Landa. His voice colored with emotion, he addressed Mr. Tarantino directly: “You gave me my vocation back.”

Ms. Huppert presented the director Alain Resnais — who turns 87 next month — with a “lifetime achievement award for his work and his exceptional contribution to the history of cinema.” He should have won something as well for his dazzling competition entry, “Wild Grass.” Wearing sunglasses (bright lights bother him), a dark suit, a red shirt and a magnificent swirl of white hair, Mr. Resnais took the stage and was greeted with a sustained standing ovation. He expressed his gratitude to the jury and the festival and asked his cast to stand and receive applause before he was cut short by the music.

The Caméra d’Or for best first feature, awarded by another jury, went to an Australian film by Warwick Thornton that was largely below the critical radar, “Samson and Delilah,” a teenage love story set in the Outback.

Despite the on-screen carnage that was amply rewarded by Ms. Huppert and her jury, the festival put on its usual glittering show that for 12 days made cinema seem as if it mattered to the world. News media attendance and spirits might have been down, but the sun came out as did the jostling crowds, red-carpet stars and distributor wallets.

“This is the center of independent films from around the world,” Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, said on Saturday. Unlike many Americans he stays until the end because one never knows what might turn up: last year his company bought the Palme winner, “The Class,” which was screened on the last day. This year it bought “The White Ribbon” and “A Prophet.”

Although big Hollywood still turns up at Cannes (the Pixar movie “Up” opened the festival), the studios don’t show much work here unless Clint Eastwood has a new one. All too often quality is now the province of their specialty divisions, some of which were recently shut down. That makes older, established companies like Sony Classics and newcomers like Oscilloscope Laboratories even more important. IFC Films, for one, has made a nice habit of buying some of the best movies here, and this year grabbed “Antichrist” and Ken Loach’s “Looking for Eric,” a crowd-pleaser about a postman who, in the midst of a meltdown, conjures the philosophizing form of his favorite soccer star. It’s no wonder that IFC Entertainment’s president, Jonathan Sehring, characterized the festival as “very, very good.”

But while Hollywood movies are not much in abundance, the stars still come out, if somewhat fewer this year. Most of the American headliners (“Brad!” “Angelina!”) turned up at the premiere of “Inglourious Basterds.” They soon disappeared, but Mr. Tarantino was everywhere. He danced on the red carpet, chatted in English on French television and praised Mr. Mendoza’s “Kinatay.” Mr. Mendoza, a rising talent who was at Cannes last year with the rowdy “Serbis,” could use all the help he could get with this movie. A morality tale that he wields like a blunt instrument, “Kinatay” hinges on the inaction of a police-academy student while a prostitute is murdered and dismembered. The movie had its respectful fans, but many others fled the theater.

By closing night a lot was still in play, which may portend good news for American movie lovers. Oscilloscope, the company founded by the Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, bought“Wendy and Lucy” last year, and this year picked up another film, but has not announced its title. This was Mr. Yauch’s first time at Cannes.

“I was glad to see everyone in tuxes and ball gowns going up the red carpet,” he said in an e-mail message from New York on Sunday. “I was afraid that the photos I’ve seen ofGrace Kelly and Cary Grant would have faded into history like everything else, and that people would be walking into premieres in shorts, T-shirts and Crocs. So I was impressed when I saw a man in a suit turned away because he was wearing sneakers. Perhaps Cannes is the last bastion of dignified decadence.”

Variety reviews "...Doctor Parnassus"

A little warning first, however. On my previous post, entitled "First Doctor Parnassus review", someone decided to give me a thrashing for writing what he/she called a half-assed review, that I must have written after only seeing 10 minutes, and then getting a hotdog. I thought it was obvious: I HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE. I'M NOT AT CANNES. IF YOU HAVE COMPLAINTS WITH THE CHARACTER NAME ERRORS OR WRITING STYLES OF THE PREVIOUS REVIEW OR THIS ONE, DON'T COMPLAIN HERE, BECAUSE I DIDN'T WRITE THESE.

And now, to the Variety review by TODD MCCARTHY, WHO DOESN'T WRITE FOR THIS BLOG.

Especially considering the trauma and difficulties stemming from Heath Ledger's death during production and the fact that Terry Gilliam hadn't directed a good picture in more than a decade, the helmer has made a pretty good thing out of a very bad situation in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus." Synthesizing elements from several of his previous pictures, including "Time Bandits,""The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" and "The Fisher King," the often overreaching director addresses a mad hatter of a story with the expected visual panache and what is, for him, considerable discipline. With Ledger onscreen more than might have been expected, the film possesses strong curiosity value bolstered by generally lively action and excellent visual effects, making for good commercial prospects in most markets.

"Imaginarium" joined the short list of films interrupted by the death of a star when Ledger died in January 2008, after an initial stretch of shooting in London and before the box office smash of "The Dark Knight." Gilliam struggled to figure out how to proceed before asking three other stars, Johnny Depp (who toplined for the director in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"), Jude Law and Colin Farrell, to step in to fill Ledger's shoes.

Many Ledger fans certainly will turn out just to see his final performance. But it's genuinely interesting to see how, under duress, Gilliam contrived to work the other actors into the role. The way it plays out in the finished picture is that Ledger's incarnation of Tony, a man rescued from death who provides a possible way for Doctor Parnassus to win a wager with the devil, occupies the London-set framing story, while his three successors play versions of the character in the CGI sequences set in fantastical other dimensions. It all comes off well, without terribly disruptive emotional-mental dislocations.

That said, Tony is not a demanding dramatic role, nor a particularly flamboyant one like the Joker, so this can't legitimately be described as one Ledger's most striking performances. Like most of the other actors here, he's antic and frantic, dirty and sweaty, as the principals flail around trying to cope with their desperate straits.

At first, it seems Gilliam's worst habits will get the better of him once again, as the early hectic action centers on a small group of traveling players who move about the seedier neighborhoods of modern London in a 19th-century-style carnival wagon that unfolds to allow the performers out to try to snare its few derelict customers.

At the center of the clan is Doctor Parnassus himself (Christopher Plummer, with a Lear-like countenance), who a thousand years ago made a pact with the devil for immortality. The downside to the bargain, however, as Parnassus is reminded when the devil comes to collect in the person of Mr. Nick (Tom Waits, forever the hipster); is that, when the doctor's daughter Valentina (Lily Cole) turns 16, she becomes Satan's property. Unfortunately, her birthday is imminent, so Parnassus makes another deal, which allows him to save his daughter if he can deliver five souls to his alternate world of the imagination.

This phantasmagorical domain exists as something like the anteroom to the doctor's wagon. Entered through a mirrored partition, it can assume multiple forms, and great comforts await there as well as considerable perils. It's another "Alice in Wonderland"-like playground for Gilliam, and while all the specific action may not be entirely coherent or exciting, it's always visually stimulating and allows the three incarnations of Tony to host assorted guests.

In a morbid touch, Tony is first seen hanging from a noose suspended from a London bridge and presumed dead. Once resurrected and done flopping about in the mud, the young man, who says "mate" a lot, joins Parnassus' small band, which, in addition to his kewpie doll-like daughter, consists of the over-avid Anton (Andrew Garfield), who's smitten with Valentina, and midget Percy (Verne Troyer). Seeing little upside among the drunks and homeless who generally witness and sometimes disrupt the troupe's appearances, Tony suggests a modernizing makeover and a move to snazzier environs.

A lot of the stage business consists of pratfalls and chaotic behavior, which quickly become overbearing, and the plot mechanics are scarcely more engaging. Fortunately, the central conception is sturdy enough to bear Gilliam's sporadic excesses, which in any case are better focused than is sometimes the case with him. Worst are the persistent and ineffectual flailings of Anton, a character poorly conceived in hapless 19th-century romantic mode.

It's 66 minutes into the picture when Depp first appears, and you have to look twice to make sure it's him, so closely has his pulled-back hair, moustache and beard been tailored to match Ledger's. At one point, Depp's Tony conducts a middle-aged woman to the river of immortality and says that there she can join the likes of Valentino, James Dean and Princess Di among those who never got old, which serves to ease Ledger's unspoken admission to that group.

Ledger reappears whenever the action returns to modern London, but the fact that Tony is always dressed in a white suit makes him instantly identifiable when Law takes over to deal with some Russian gangsters who pass through veil. Last and very much the best of the three new Tonys is Farrell, who brings great zest to Tony's efforts to become the crucial fifth soul who will save Valentina for Parnassus.

Pic's second half is resplendent with ever-changing CGI backdrops for the imaginary world the doctor has created with his gift. "Original designers and art directors" Dave Warren and Gilliam no doubt played a dominant role in conceiving the film's look, which is ornate without being a riot of detail, but production designer Anastasia Masaro, visual effects supervisors John Paul Docherty and Richard Bain and costume designer Monique Prudhomme certainly made major contributions as well. Other production values are strong across the board.

Plummer enacts the oldest man in the world with verve, and Troyer, Waits and Cole nicely hold necessarily caricatured work in check.

Pic is dedicated to the memories of not only Ledger but producer William Vince, who also died during production.

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• (Person) Chris Plummer

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• (Person) Colin Farrell
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• (Person) Colin Farrell
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• (Film) The Dark Knight
  L Zharkova, Oleg Kovalov
• (Film) The Dark Knight

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• (Film) Alice in Wonderland
  1976 - Kristine DeBell, Bud Townsend
• (Film) Alice in Wonderland
  Thais Valdes, Daniel Diaz Torres
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  Series Information, Seasons, Credits, Awards
• (Tv) Alice in Wonderland
  Tina Majorino, Nick Willing

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• (Person) James Dean
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• (Person) James Dean
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• (Person) James Dean Fischer
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• (Person) Dave Warren
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• (Person) Dave Warren

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