New posters for "Australia" and "Valkyrie"

Trailer for "Cadillac Records" finally arrives

'Cadillac Records' Theatrical Trailer @ Yahoo! Video

one of the few "trailer-less" end of the year films finally has a trailer out, and it's not half bad looking. I don't think it'll sweep the Oscars by any means, but it looks like a solid mix of Dreamgirls and Almost Famous (except....based on real people). Beyonce actually looks better than in Dreamgirls (acting-wise at least. I'm not sure she's the best pick if she's supposed to be Etta James in terms of singing). Who knows, maybe all the other Oscar hopefuls will crash and this one will end up doing really well. We'll see....

2 TV ads for "Australia"

Unfortunately they had "embedding denied", so you'll actually have to click one extra time to see the videos. Poor you...

The FIRST

The SECOND

Early review of "Defiance"

This is certainly a nice surprise. After such "meh" offerings like Blood Diamond and The Last Samurai I was beginning to think that Ed Zwick had completely lost it. Looks as though I'm wrong....

Source: NukeTheFridge.com

"Defiance" is an intelligent movie about the human spirit with Oscar worthy performances.

Written by Clayton Frohman and Edward Zwick, who also directed was based on a little known true story("Defiance: the Bielski Partisians") of the courageous Bielski brothers during the invasion of Poland by the German army in 1941 and how these three simple farmers became freedom fighters saving 1,200 lives while living in the forest.

Film opens with the entire Bieski family having been killed by the Nazi's. Tuvia(Daniel Craig) and Zus(Liev Schreiber) discover their little brother Asael(Jamie Bell) as the only survivor hidden under the floorboards of the family farm with the help from a Polish neighbor.

Here they take refuge in the forest while being hunted by the Polish police that have a bounty on all Jewish people by the Nazi's. It isn't long before other refugees arrive looking towards Tuvia and Zus as their saviors and leaders building a small, hidden community deep in the forest.

With competing leadership problems between the two elder brothers, Zus takes a group of followers to fight with the Russian army while Tuvia stays to lead his encampment.

Director Zwick tells the story of their plight through powerful, haunting images and a solid story behind this film. Every actor pushes the envelope in their skills on the screen. Many will say that yes, Daniel Craig is James Bond, but he is such a talented actor that he's absorbed into the character of Tuvia as does Liev Schrieber with their incredible, tour de force performances. I foresee Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nominations, respectfully, for both of these men along with Best Film and Best Director for Zwick.

The cinematography by Eduardo Serra is breathtaking capturing the intense situation of the dramatic story. The beautiful, emotionally charged music reflects the theme of this powerful movie in happy times as well as sad.

At a running time of two hours, the film is fast paced and the audience is caught up in the plight of these people never glamorizing war, yet showing what people would do to have to survive against tyranny and oppression.

One haunting image comes to mind is where a young German soldier is captured and brought into the camp by the youngest brother, Asael, after a successful attack against Nazi forces. The people in the camp begin to yell and scream at him blaming the by for all the trouble and death of their loved ones as Tuvia just observes without interfering. Clearly, you can see he's just a frightened kid; maybe the same age as Asael.

The elder; a scholarly teacher with wisdom, shows mercy on the boy and says that if he promises not reveal their location, that they'll let him go. For one brief moment, you see Tuvia about to show the same compassion when the entire group converges on the soldier and physically beat him to death.

You see everything through Tuvia's eyes without any dialogue as he decides to let the people take the matter into their hands in Darwinian terms as he walks over to a crying Asael who never thought this would happen. Its such a powerful scene depicting the horrors of war without any words between the actors and an image that will stay with their viewer long after they've left the theater.

"Defiance" is a dynamic, captivating film that will emotionally involve you and without question, one of the best movies I've seen all year.

Happy Go Lucky - REVIEW

Before I start this review, there are a few things you ought to know about my "condition" prior to seeing this film. 1) I had spent most of the day working on an excruciatingly tedious college application, so my brain felt like mush, and 2) the movie started 20 minutes late, so it felt like time had been slooooooooooooooooooowed down. I say this because it probably kept me from getting the most out of this movie, which I did like.

Perhaps the main problem with Happy-Go-Lucky isn't in the film itself, but rather in the marketing. Trailers for the film have tried to market it as a complete joy ride of happiness. This is not really true. What it REALLY is, is less an exploration of happiness, than it is an exploration of how we can choose to act in the face of adversity. Poppy (Sally Hawkins, truly the breakout star of the year) is a single, primary school teacher in London, who has never had a boyfriend, lives in a flat with her sister and friend, and is perpetually happy. In the film's opening sequence, Poppy rides through town on her bicycle, goes inside a bookstore, tries to talk with the sullen store clerk, and then leaves only to find that her bicycle has been stolen. At this point she gives a sort of dismayed giggle before remarking, "I never got a chance to say good bye." This opening scene is perhaps the best indicator of what the whole film is like. Though there are priceless moments of hilarity (a long scene where Poppy first takes Flamenco lessons gets increasingly laugh out loud funny), these are not the driving force behind the film. The real crux of it all, rather than great laughs, is the contrast between Poppy and her grouchy driving instructor, Scott (a superb Eddie Marsan). Unlike Poppy, Scott will let all the bad things, big or little, driving him further into a state of supreme unpleasantness, which culminates in a strikingly strong confrontation near the film's end. The only other problem I have with the film is that at times it feels somewhat structurally weak. Though yes, it is a "slice of life" film, there are one or two scene that could have placed elsewhere (ex: a subdued but touching scene where Poppy tries to comfort a homeless man that comes out of nowhere). For a movie titled Happy Go Lucky, it could have used a little more "happy". In the end it's very much worth seeing, especially for Hawkins and Marsan, but I'd advise you to be much more alert than I was, so you might take in more than I did.

Grade: B+

Nominations: Best Actress - Sally Hawkins(#2), Best Supporting Actor - Eddie Marsan(#3), Best Original Score - Gary Yershon(#3)

Number of 2008 films seen: 39

Top 10 of the year:

1. The Dark Knight
2. WALL-E
3. In Bruges
4. Burn After Reading
5. The Fall
6. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
7. Happy Go Lucky
8. The Duchess
   
9. Tropic Thunder
10. Rachel Getting Married
    

Trailer for "The Reader"

Actually looks better than I thought it would. Kind of interesting that the teen actor never gets his name shown even though he'll probably be on screen more than Fiennes or Winslet....

Final trailer for "Australia"

Not much more to say other than: WOW