Minggu, 16 Januari 2011

THE GREEN HORNET

Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
Directed by Michel Gondry
Starring Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Tom Wilkinson and Christoph Waltz


Britt Reid: That is the balls.

I’ve got to give it up for Seth Rogen. The man has gone from full on geek to perpetual stoner to slimmed down, unexpected superhero in Michel Gondry’s most indisputable attempt to penetrate the mainstream, THE GREEN HORNET, a big budget 3D adaptation of the popular 1930’s radio series. Rogen’s transformation is admirable but ultimately not as successful as it needed to be to irradicate the image of the affable teddy bear character we’ve all come to know, love and get slightly tired of in recent years. Subsequently, THE GREEN HORNET plays like a laid back stoner flick without the actual weed, and Rogen, without the haze of smoke surrounding him, is just not as funny as he is when he’s high. That said, he could have been high throughout the entire production for all I know. It just isn’t written in this time.

Rogen co-wrote the script to THE GREEN HORNET with SUPERBAD co-writer, Evan Goldberg. Under Gondry’s somewhat scattered direction, their screenplay becomes a surprisingly well-woven send-up of many superhero clichés, while remaining reasonably grounded in a realistic place, with the exception of random misplaced bursts of Gondry’s hyperactive imagination. Rogen plays Britt Reid, the only heir to his father’s (Tom Wilkinson) newspaper fortune. Britt lost his mother when he was just a boy and his relationship with his father has always been strained, living in that vastly cast shadow. His life is one party after another until his father dies suddenly. Unable to resolve the public admiration for a man who never seemed to care about him, Britt decides he is going to save the world his way – in a green mask and hat, one bad guy at a time.

Of course, Britt can’t do this alone so he enlists the help of his super genius buddy, Kato (Jay Chou), to be his alter ego, The Green Hornet’s sidekick. He also takes Cameron Diaz into his fold but she just looks confused as to when her career became about playing such superfluous secondary characters the whole time. Together Britt and Kato form something much stronger than your everyday bromance; each of them now orphaned, they actually become brothers. It is their relationship, uneven and influenced by class and status yet still devoted, that makes THE GREEN HORNET so relatable and real, which is a lot to say about a movie where guys can stop time in their mind. This is the age of the every man superhero after all. The trouble with regular guys though is that they are often nowhere near as funny as they think they are.



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Jumat, 14 Januari 2011

ANOTHER YEAR

Written and Directed by Mike Leigh
Starring Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen and Lesley Manville


Gerri: Change is hard, isn't it?
Janet: Nothing changes.

Aging is one of those human experiences that, if we’re fortunate enough to get up there that is, is essentially universal in theory. In practice though, some of us age much more gracefully than others. Some of us age while our dreams come true around us, while others do so while watching each of their dreams fall victim to time. Unfortunately, we don’t always get to choose how well life works out for us, so when the years continue to pass, each one has the potential to reinforce what we do or don’t have in our lives. ANOTHER YEAR is British filmmaker, Mike Leigh’s, specific look at one of these years and, in its delightful and touching execution, it contemplates the cruel little imbalances life has to offer.

There is a lot of eating in ANOTHER YEAR and all the glasses at the table are quite distinctly either half empty of half full. The table itself belongs to Tom and Gerri (Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen), a couple who have been together for more than 30 years, who are still just as adorable with each other today as the combination of their names suggests they should be. They are joined more often than not at their table by old friends like Mary (a heartbreaking Lesley Manville), who tells herself she is happy alone but drinks to forget she is actually alone whenever she can, and Ken (Peter Wright), who cannot fathom retiring because then he truly won’t have anything at all to do with his time. Sometimes their son, Joe (Oliver Maltman) stops by too. At 30, he hasn’t met anyone special yet and with such a great example of long lasting love to live up to, you know he knows he is missing out. The dinner conversation is never boring and, thanks to the incredible ensemble, always fascinating and enlightening.

Tom and Gerri garden together. ANOTHER YEAR follows their planting cycle from the planting itself to the period of growth, through the harvesting in the fall and finally the inevitable death in the winter. They have been planting in this garden for years, just as Leigh has been making movies for years. And if the relaxed, subtly aware tone of Leigh’s latest work tells me anything, it is that he too knows that all you can do is plant the seed and hope it grows to be strong, tall and surrounded by flowers.

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Rabu, 12 Januari 2011

Couch Time with Sheldon

I don't want to brag but I had a lot of time off during the holidays. Clearly, I was still posting here but I was not tending to my day job. As I did not flee the country for somewhere warmer, and as the universe decided I should get sick just after the new year started, I spent a fair amount of time on my couch during my break. Fortunately, a slew of movies had arrived at my door at the time so I was never without something to watch. Here are a couple of the films I caught ...

ANIMAL KINGDOM
I love my family. Having spent an extended period of time with them during the holidays was a bit taxing at times but they are all saints compared to the Cody family in David Michod's Australian export, ANIMAL KINGDOM. Josh, played by newcomer James Frecheville, goes to stay with his grandmother (Jacki Weaver) after his mother overdoses and, before long, he falls in with his uncles and their sordid ways. Ben Mendelsohn plays the ring leader of this pack with such an intensely creepy presence that I almost had to leave the room at times when he was on screen. And it is easy to see why Weaver would be getting awards recognition for her role as the family matriarch. She has nothing but love for her family and will do anything .. and I do mean anything .. to protect them. (eOne)

JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK
Joan Rivers works very hard and she wants you all to know it in the new documentary based on the later years of her career, JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK, directed by Ricki Stern. Back when Rivers was on "The Tonight Show" as Jonny Carson's permanent stand-in, America loved her. She had a whip-smart tongue and she was a pioneer for female comediennes. The years were not kind though and public opinion of Rivers has been reduced to a joke, most often of the plastic surgery variety. Despite her mask, Rivers cannot hide from Stern's cameras and this touching documentary, while still somewhat self serving, is also a testament to how hard it is to be a living legend. (eOne)

Both films are available to rent or own now on both Blu-ray and DVD from eOne films.
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Selasa, 11 Januari 2011

Tis the Season: The Guilds

(Scroll over any film title for the full Black Sheep review.)

The Screen Actors Guild made their announcements before the year ended and now it is time for the three other major factions of the film voting community to weigh in with their choices for best film achievements of 2010. They are the Producers Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America. The producers and directors nominations are ordinarily strong indicators of what to expect when the Oscars are announced on January 25 but the writers have come under a fair amount of flack this year. Major Oscar contenders like THE KING'S SPEECH and TOY STORY 3 were not eligible because they were not affiliated with the guild during production. It is difficult to give much credit to a group that would not consider the screenplays for WINTER'S BONE, BLUE VALENTINE or ANOTHER YEAR when they are all serious Oscar contenders in their respective screenplay categories. Especially when they don't fill those voids with films like RABBIT HOLE. Meanwhile, the PGA Top 10 is another variation on the same 11 films that are being tossed around in the Best Picture race this year, with WINTER'S BONE not making the cut this time out. And the DGA favoured newcomers to the Best Direction race, Darren Aronofsky (BLACK SWAN) and David O. Russell (THE FIGHTER) over past winners, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for TRUE GRIT.

The PGA will announce its winners on January 22, in a ceremony hosted by Judd Apatow. The WGA will announce its winners on February 5, in simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York City to cater to both the Eastern and Western divisions of the guild. The DGA will announce its winner on January 29, at its 75th anniversary edition of the ceremony.

Here are the major nominees from each of the guilds ...

THE WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Screenplay by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin; Story by Andres Heinz

Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson

Written by Christopher Nolan

Written by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg

PLEASE GIVE
Written by Nicole Holofcener


ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy; Based on the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS
Written by John Requa & Glenn Ficarra; Based on the book by Steven McVicker

Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin; Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich

Screenplay by Peter Craig and Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard; Based on the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan

Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen; Based on the novel by Charles Portis


THE DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA

Darren Aronofsky

David Fincher

Tom Hooper

Christopher Nolan

David O. Russell


THE PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA

Producers: Danny Boyle, Christian Colson

Producers: Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver

Producers: Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas

Producers: David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Mark Wahlberg

Producers: Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray

Producers: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin

Producers: Dana Brunetti, Ceán Chaffin, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin

Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Graham King

Producer: Darla K. Anderson

Producers: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin


SOURCES:



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Kamis, 06 Januari 2011

COUNTRY STRONG

Written and Directed by Shana Feste
Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester


Kelly Canter: Well, I remember that day / when our eyes first met / You ran into the building to get out of the rain 'cause you were soaking wet / And when you held the door / you wanted to know my name / Timing is everything.

There isn’t anything sadder in the world than a good country tune, except for maybe the booze-soaked, sleep-deprived, emotionally impossible days and nights that are the inspiration behind these great songs. Writer/Director Shana Feste’s COUNTRY STRONG is one of those true tragedies. One of the genre’s biggest stars falls off a Dallas stage, five months pregnant and wasted, killing her child and her spirit at the same time. A year later, she is checking out of rehab earlier than she should to return to that same stage and reclaim her career as well her own self. People are fighting, cheating and both breaking and making up, but by the time its done, everyone is crying tears into their beers.

Gwyneth Paltrow is Kelly Canter, a Faith Hill type country superstar, except with a slew of public problems. While her troubles are all very adult, her demeanor is still that of a child. Paltrow plays Canter as a little girl, lost in a big world, who would much rather be tending to a baby bird she found in a field than performing in front of thousands of screaming fans. She isn’t sober for long once her husband checks her out of rehab, as it becomes painfully clear the public is not going to let her forget her own personal hardships. She loses herself in anything and everyone she can in order to avoid her own self, until that’s all she has left - and Paltrow’s got a mess of mascara on her face most of the time to prove it.

COUNTRY STRONG, which also boasts a surprisingly strong supporting cast, culminates into a somewhat simplified commentary about celebrity and people as products. Feste pulls out every country punch she can think of, but lucky for her, Paltrow knows how to roll those punches into something real so that you too can have a silent sob in your beverage.

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Selasa, 04 Januari 2011

Tis the Season: The CAST Awards


Yesterday, the Online Film Critics Society announced THE SOCIAL NETWORK as Best Picture of 2010. Seeing as how I have asked to be a part of that society for essentially every year I've been online and and every year they reject me, I've decided not to bother reporting about them this year. (No offense to the members I actually know.) Instead, I bring you today a year end list from a group that is happy to have me - the CAST Awards. CAST stands for Cinema Appreciation Society of Toronto and the society consists of a good chunk of Toronto film bloggers who meet monthly to talk about what they love most, film. These good people, myself included, voted in two rounds and collectively have voted INCEPTION as the Best Picture of 2010. The full Top 25 is listed below and the participants are then listed below that. You can click on any links to go to their sites and/or follow them on Twitter. Thanks to James McNally of Toronto Screen Shots for organizing and compiling the whole affair.


FILM TITLE
POINTS
MENTIONS
1. Inception41122
2. Toy Story 331120
3. Black Swan30716
4. Shutter Island29719
5. The Social Network26117
6. Scott Pilgrim25417
7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo23116
8. Winter’s Bone18011
9. I Am Love1659
10.The King’s Speech14911
11. Rubber1499
12. Never Let Me Go14711
13. Trigger1409
14. Fish Tank1349
15. Buried1349
16. The White Ribbon1307
17. True Grit1279
18. Chloe1248
19. Easy A12110
20. Marwencol1177
21. 127 Hours1159
22. A Prophet1148
23. Rabbit Hole1127
24. Blue Valentine1108
25. Heartbeats1107

Participants:

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Jumat, 31 Desember 2010

Black Sheep's Top 10 of 2010!

(Scroll over any film title to read the full length Black Sheep review.)

It is the first day day of the new year and I'm happy. I'm happy to put certain aspects of the last year behind me, happy to look ahead toward what waits for me and happy to look back at my most celebrated moments as a film critic in 2010 as well. There are three in particular that come to mind ...

I've been published before but never in high gloss colour. My interview with the Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker, Louis Psihoyos, about his first feature, THE COVE, was published in Movie Entertainment magazine, the magazine of The Movie Network in Canada. It was a thrill to see my name in print like that and to know that possibly tens of thousands of film lovers across Canada would be reading my work. Movie Entertainment still publishes my monthly column on their website, letting people know what to watch on TMN that month, and intends to publish my interview with Ryan Reynolds, for his film BURIED, this summer.

If you read Black Sheep at all regularly, you would know that this year I was a fully accredited member of the press at the 2010 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival for the first time. I saw 30 films, met tons of great people, interviewed a variety of filmmakers that I never dreamed I would ever meet and I even worked my first red carpet, for Woody Allen no less. My coverage of the festival on Black Sheep brought in the highest readership numbers I've seen in the five years the site has been around and led to my being published on other great sites, like Toronto Film Scene and The Mark News. I hope TIFF invites me back to the party again next year because I'm not sure I can go back after feeling the power of the press pass.

The third thing is perhaps the most important. I've only lived in Toronto for a year and a half now and I haven't had the easiest of times making friends. In January of this year, I took my first real steps towards changing that when I met a group of local film bloggers for their monthly meeting. It isn't so much a meeting though as it is a bunch of film geeks getting together, drinking and shooting the shit about movies really. And while it may not sound like much to some, it has allowed me the possibility to meet people that make me feel a lot more like I belong here. A big shout out to James McNally of Toronto Screen Shots for the original invite!

Like my personal life, 2010 was a bit of a rocky year for film as well ... or at least I thought it was at the time. I griped all year about how there were no good movies coming out but when it came time to actually narrow down the 120+ films I saw all year to a list of 10, I had a very difficult time doing so. Difficult is relative here as how hard is it really to sit down and think about movies you like? I managed to get her done though and I am ready to share this list with you today.

(insert drum roll here)

Here is Black Sheep Reviews' Top 10 of 2010 ...
(in alphabetical order)

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

I love when I am truly excited for a film and it does not disappoint. BLACK SWAN is that experience for me. The moment it ended, I wanted to watch it again and again. I still do. It effects all who see it, regardless of how much they enjoyed the film. It just crawls under your skin and stays there until you start to sprout feathers of your own.


Directed by David O. Russell

I knew after five minutes of watching THE FIGHTER that I was about to see one of the best pictures of the year. The film has an energy that really gets you in the mood for a good wallop. The entire ensemble knocks the movie out of the ring and Russell finishes by making the best film of his career.


I AM LOVE
Directed by Luca Guadagnino

Every once in a while, I go to the movies just to go. I don't take notes; I don't write about it afterward. I just sit back and enjoy the experience. I saw I AM LOVE like this and it was like heaven. It is beautiful in every regard it can be - from picture and sound to performance and dialog. I too was love when it was done.


Directed by Christopher Nolan

When I saw INCEPTION in theatres, I was disappointed. I wanted it to be more emotional, to be more revealing about humanity and our collective subconscious. When I watched it again at home, I realized I wanted it to be something it just wasn't. And what it is, is pretty freaking awesome.


Directed by Lisa Cholodenko

Some will say that indie film director, Lisa Cholodenko, sold out when she made THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT but I commend her for making the marginalized, accessible. The incredibly talented cast is so earnest in their love for each other as a family that you can't help but feel it too. This is what a family looks like.


Directed by Tom Hooper

I am very happy to see that THE KING'S SPEECH family is the buzz of awards season this year. Director Tom Hooper's emerging career is so promising and his work here is seemingly effortless. And with Colin Firth on the throne, it wouldn't surprise me to see the film crowned king come Oscar time.


Directed by Martin Scorcese

Martin Scorcese's psychological thriller, SHUTTER ISLAND, was the first truly great picture of 2010. It is not without its flaws but it presents itself and its ambitious agenda with great confidence, so much so that you feel as if you too are thrown right onto the island with everybody else, at the center of an elaborate mind game that you may not survive.


Directed by David Fincher

THE SOCIAL NETWORK is something like a perfect picture. Every element comes together to provide both entertainment and insight in a way that is as astonishing as it is unexpected. People scoffed at the idea of a Facebook movie (I may have done some scoffing myself) but how could we ever have known that this is what they would do?


Directed by Lee Unkrich


For the second year in a row, the Pixar people have made me cry like a baby at the movies. TOY STORY 3 seemed like unnecessary pandering in concept but its execution is so daring and delightful, that it is easily the best of the three. The fact that some of the most tense and emotional film moments of 2010 came from an animated feature is a great feat for many.


Directed by Debra Granik


Debra Granik's chilling thriller, WINTER'S BONE, was one of the year's most unexpected surprises for me. It is an incredible testament to the human spirit and it showed me a side of people in a little corner of the world that I had never imagined. Jennifer Lawrence gives the breakthrough performance of 2010 in this film.


There you have it, folks. My 10 favourite films of 2010. Stay tuned for some very big changes around here and, of course, the announcements of the 2010 Mouton d'Or Awards coming later this month. In the meantime, here are my 2010 honourable mentions:

BIUTIFUL
Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman

EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP
Directed by Banksy

Directed by Xavier Dolan

A PROPHET
Directed by Jacques Audiard
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