I was certain an English trailer for Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo (our review) was on its way and just before the film’s scheduled release at the end of the month, we finally get one.
Usually, we’d tuck this trailer into the comments section but it’s deserving of another post, even if it is just as a reminder that this is coming. And this new trailer? Exactly what you can expect from the film: crazy, gleeful fun.
Lars von Trier is not my cup of tea. I’ve only seen a couple of his films but it was enough to know that his themes were a bit harsh for me and hearing people talk about Dancer in the Dark and Dogville never encouraged further viewing but that may all have changed in one trailer.
When a still for von Trier’s new film Antichrist was released a few weeks ago, the web went a bit crazy. I couldn’t quite see why (aside from the fact that it’s damned creepy) since I’ve always thought of von Trier as a director who pushes the envelope, but the image did get my attention. Now that I’ve seen the trailer, I want to know when we can expect a North American release.
To put it quite bluntly, this trailer is awesome. It’s beautiful, dreamlike, gorgeous and equally scary, creepy and down right disturbing. Is von Trier playing at horror? Maybe some of his previous films are too but none of the trailers I’ve seen have suggested any of them are true “horror” films but this one certainly does. The official synopsis explains that a couple, played by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, retreat to a cabin in the woods in an effort to save their troubled marriage but things turn sour when nature “takes it course”. So basically, this is the movie that takes the nature attacks theme of The Happening (our review) and goes full blown horror? Sure looks like it.
Thanks to The Auteurs for the heads up on the wicked trailer.
My first brush wish Swedish director Mikael Håfström came during the film festival a few years ago when I caught a screening of the teen drama Ondskan. I was impressed by the intensity and look of the film and how Håfström managed to make a common story so memorable that it still comes to mind years later.
I was surprised when Håfström made his Hollywood debut with the mostly forgettable thriller Derailed which was, as I remember, a nice looking but ultimately flat film (with the exception of the great Vincent Cassel and admittedly, I didn’t see the twist coming). I saw 1408 in the hopes that it would perhaps be a step into something great but alas, it too was a dud. Now, news that the director has signed on for another thriller, this one religious in scope, puts me one step closer to losing faith in a once promising director.
Titled Last Rite, an adaptation of a non-fiction book, the new project is a thriller about the Vatican’s Exorcism School. I love these religious thrillers (heck, I’m sure I’m one of only a handful of people who bothered to see The Order *cough cough*…maybe even more than once *cough cough*) but this feels like another cheap run at overdone religious thrillers.
My fingers are crossed that Shanghai, Håfström’s re-teaming with John Cusack which is due in theatres in September, is good otherwise, I’m on the brink of writing him off my watch list. And, you know, with all the power I yield, that could be devastating for his career.
I’m not holding out much hope for Angels & Demons. Ron Howard and Tom Hanks’ first attempt to transfer Robert Langdon from the page to the screen was a dud and though Dan Brown has made millions from Langdon and the mysteries he “solves”, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the stories are ripe for the big screen.
Good taste aside, The Da Vinci Code made a nice pile of cash so it’s no surprise that the studio would want to dig in for a second round. What is surprising is that both Howard and Hanks signed on for a second film; maybe they had a really great time on set. One thing is certain, if the book is any indication, the premise for this one will be less mind numbing than the first. Though it takes place before the events of The Da Vinci Code, the stories have no overlap aside from Langdon and a religious conspiracy which, this time, puts the symbologist in the middle of a mystery involving a murder, the Vatican and the Illuminati.
As expected, the new film features quite the cast including Stellan Skarsgård, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ayelet Zurer as the new love interest and Ewan McGregor in a role that is unlikely to be en par with Paul Bettany’s scene stealing performance in The Da Vinci Code. The trailers are far from awe inspiring but they do suggest that the film will sport some awesome locations and I have to admit, this new poster is very nice.
Angels & Demons opens on May 15th.
Director: Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City)
Screenplay: Alex Proyas, Stuart Hazeldine, Ryne Douglas Pearson, Juliet Snowden, Stiles White, Richard Kelly
Producers: Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Alex Proyas, Steve Tisch
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 130 min.
It’s difficult, and a little sad to see the turns that Alex Proyas’ career has taken. It has taken him from one cult film to another and it seemed, on the surface at least, that 2004’s I, Robot could be the film to break him into mainstream popular culture while retaining his great director credibility. The markings were on the wall: the casting of Will Smith in the lead role and the grumblings of the studio mingling in the production raised a few red flags but no one was prepared for the travesty that was the adaptation. And so it seemed that Proyas might be finished. How long can two great films sustain a career?
It was only a matter of time before the director took on another project with a studio that would allow him his own vision and, hopefully, that vision would produce a great final product, but it’s fair to say that no one expected Knowing to be that film. Surprise!
Conceived by author Ryne Pearson and flushed out by a team of writers, the film stars Nicolas Cage as John Koestler a professor of astrophysics who finds himself in the middle of a mystery when his son brings home a sheet of paper covered in numbers which had been stored in a time capsule for 50 years. At first, the numbers don’t seem important but after a few drinks, anything is possible and the doctor thinks he sees a pattern in the numbers. A nigh-full of research later, he has a whiteboard full of circled numbers and a more questions than when he started circling. He’s come to the conclusion that some of the numbers mark the date and number of deaths of major tragedies to have occurred over the past fifty years and even a few that have yet to occur. It all sounds fantastic and yes, you do need to put your brain on a bit of autopilot here because the major plot points are not playing in the realms of reality but don’t fall asleep just yet. The good stuff is coming.
Reading over Andrew’s review of Gomorra (our review), I was reminded of another film from 2008 which was both informative and entertaining without feeling bogged down by “the facts”. Granted, Paolo Sorrentino’s film is, by most accounts, flashy and loud but it’s also brilliantly acted and fantastic fun.
Based on the life, particularly the last few years he was in power, of Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, Il Divo (our review) is a mix of gorgeous visuals, larger than life characters and a set of circumstances and events so over dramatic and flamboyant that they can only be based on the facts. Andreotti is a colourful character but Sorrentino’s film also paints the picture of a man who would do almost anything to keep the people of his country safe and happy.
Il Divo looks great, sports excellent performances, particularly from Toni Servillo who is nearly unrecognizable in the lead role, and features a fantastic, if unexpected, soundtrack. Though the film does try to squeeze in a lot of facts, many of the names and dates get lost in the fast pacing of the film. Not exactly a detriment but it you’re not wiling or able to roll with the data as it flows, this isn’t the film for you.
I can’t wait to see it a second time and it looks like I’ll have a chance to revisit it sooner rather than later. Mongrel is distributing the film across Canada with a release (likely limited to start and expanding in the weeks to follow) on April 17th while Music Box Films will open the film in the US in limited release on April 24th.
I’m sure an English version of the trailer is on its way but for now, take a look at the awesome Italian trailer tucked under the seat!,
Director: Terence Davies (The House of Mirth, Distant Voices, Still Lives)
Screenplay: Terence Davies
Producers: Roy Boulter, Sol Papadopoulos
MPAA Rating: PG
Running time: 72 min.
Sitting through the closing credits of Terence Davies’ Of Time and the City last winter, I felt a calmness that I hadn’t ever experienced after a film. Almost like someone had sung me a lullaby. When the lights came up, my companion turned to me and shattered the feeling with the words “Well, that was 80 minutes of my life I’ll never get back.” The discussion started and after 20 minutes of back and forth he finally asked “Why do you like it?” I struggled with that question for some time but it took a second encounter with Davies’ film to make some sense of it and even this time, when asked why I liked it, I was at a bit of a loss.
I can understand the complaints, at least from my companions, and can see how others may feel the same way. Of Time and the City is billed as a film about Liverpool but if you’re going in expecting to learn everything there is to know about the city, you’re in for a surprise and perhaps disappointment. Where as Maddin’s My Winnipeg tackles the city from a very personal and often dream-like perspective, it still shares some of the history of Winnipeg. Davies’ film is less concerned with the city and more interested in the memories that it elicits. Of Time and the City is more of a man’s journey into his past and the events that shaped his life; they happen to be events that occurred in and around Liverpool.
To a backdrop of gorgeous and sometimes awe inspiring music, Davies shares photos and archival footage of the Liverpool he remembers. Children play on the streets, women wash clothing in communal areas, the streets are alive with chatter. Among these images and sounds we have Davies in his melodic baritone, sharing anecdotes from his youth: the Christmas traditions, the church going, his loss of faith and his rebirth into atheism.
Much like John Grisham’s novels tend to be similar, so are Dan Brown’s and to say that “Angels & Demons” is a better book than “The Da Vinci Code” isn’t saying much about either work. They’re quick reads, the kind of novel you chew into during a commute, one that you can put down and pick-up at any time, maybe even dozing off a bit between readings, skipping a few pages and paragraphs and still know everything that’s going on. I don’t care much for Brown’s writing but I do like some of the concepts he makes use of and it was those concepts that I was excited to see on the big screen when Ron Howard and company released The Da Vinci Code. Unfortunately, the film was a huge failure and aside from the locations and a great performance from Paul Bettany, the film was quickly passed over.
For one reason or another, Howard and Hanks have decided that they’re not done with Brown’s novels and now we have a first look at a second adaptation: Angels & Demons. In the timeline of protagonist Robert Langdon, this story comes before that of The Da Vinci Code though it hardly matters as the stories have little in common aside from sharing the central character, a conspiracy and religious overtones (so almost everything). This time Langdon tries to stop the Illuminati from destroying Vatican City. Hanks is reprising his role as Langdon (thankfully it looks like his hair is back under control) who prounces around with a female counterpart, this time played by Ayelet Zurer and along for the ride are Ewan McGregor and Stellan Skarsgård in supporting roles.
A teaser trailer has appeared online and rather unsurprisingly it’s pretty bland. It’s dark, melodramatic, choppy and gives you nothing of the story, which is fine for a teaser, but it’s still likely to capture the attention of conspiracy theorists and Hanks fans. If nothing else, this film should (as the first film did) feature some great locations shots but that’s simply not enough to keep anyone entertained for a film’s running time. I’m curious to see if this does any better than the first one.
Angels & Demons opens on May 15th.
Trailer is tucked under the seat!
Imagine waking up to find your father ranting about being an agent of God and that he has been charged with murdering sinners. This is the basic premise behind Bill Paxton’s 2001 horror Frailty.
The movie opens up with Fenton Meiks (Matthew McConaughey) wanting to speak to FBI Agent Doyle (Powers Boothe). Meiks believes that his brother Adam (Levi Kreis) is the notorious “God’s Hand” serial killer. He continues to explain that he needs to tell the story of his father and brother now that his brother has committed suicide because he was unable to stop all the “demons”. He explains how he took his brother’s body and buried it in a rose garden as he had promised to do when they were children. The boy’s father explained to them that he was given the power by and angel to know when someone is truly evil. If he touches them he will know and has to act. The angel gave him three objects to help with his quest. He was given gloves to wear so that he can interact with people without always seeing, a lead pipe to knock them unconscious, and an axe to kill them with. The two brothers reacted to this news in completely opposite ways. Adam accepted what his father has to say and wanted to follow in his footsteps. Fenton refused to believe in his father.
The story of the brothers and father is told in flashbacks during the conversation between the older Fenton and Agent Doyle. Both Fenton and Adam are pushed by their father to first witness the killings of these evil beings. Their father tells them that what he is doing is not murder because they are not truly human. By the time the boys have witnessed and participated in a few of the killings Fenton has had enough and he calls the Sheriff in to stop his family. His father kills the Sheriff and blames Fenton and says that it is actual murder because the Sheriff was a good man and that Fenton himself is actually a devil. His Father then tells Fenton that he was told by the angel to destroy Fenton but after Fenton begs for mercy he is locked into the cellar by his father to starve.
A fair amount more happens as the brother’s grow up and Frailty has a fair amount more to say than one would initially believe. It touches on the themes of good versus evil, father and sons and the relationship between brothers. It is a smart classy horror movie that did fairly well in the box office and ended up with pretty positive reviews but for some reason it just fell off the radar once it ended up on DVD. For me it is one of those great WalMart bargain bin finds. It has a strong compelling story with enough scare factor to be a really good horror movie. Plus it does not hurt to have Bill Paxton as a lunatic father waking his kids up in the middle of the night in order to tell them about murdering evil people. I can just imagine my son screaming and running under the bed if I ever woke him up in the middle of the night like that. He would never sleep again.
In this second instalment, we have reviews of:
Let the Right One In
Waltz with Bashir
The Desert Within
Welcome to the Sticks
Click on the film’s title to jump directly to the review.
Let the Right One In
I wouldn’t say I’m an expert on vampire films, there are a whole lot of films before the 1980’s which feature vampires that I’ve yet to, and will likely never, see, but I have the back catalogue filled in nicely. From Nosferatu to Bella Lugosi and the modern classics of Interview With a Vampire, Shadow of the Vampire and even Coppola’s Dracula. Add in the action vamps like Blade and Selene and it’s pretty safe to say that if a vampire is involved, I’ll be watching it; even if it isn’t very good.
One of the film’s I was most looking forward to this year (we’ll leave Twilight out of the equation – for today) was the Norwegian tween vampire romance Let the Right One In. Kurt had said good things and he wasn’t kidding. I’m not sure he used the words but I will: brilliant.
In a day where loud, violent and bloody is the key to vampire movies, Tomas Alfredson’s film, adapted from the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Quiet, deliberately paced and demure, this is a film that revels in mood. But don’t let that turn you away: the film is just as bloody and gruesome as we expect from a tale about a creature that feeds on human blood to survive, it simply manages to use the violence much more effectively than most. Against the beauty and serenity of winter, the blood that flows seems that much more effective in its creep factor.
Sometimes, adding a vampire to the mix simply makes a film sexier but in some other cases, it adds an entire new layer of meaning, as is the case here. Not only do you have an individual who can live forever, the creature happens to be a little girl named Eli. A child who is dependent on killing to survive yet, she manages to keep herself in check around her new friend, Oskar. Then there’s the relationship between the two children which is as pure and innocent as one would expect from 12 year olds yet it’s tinged with something else, a mothering instinct brought in by Eli who suddenly becomes protector as well as friend.
I expected good things from Let the Right One In and from the moment, I walked away, I was not disappointed but over the past few days, I’ve returned to the film with a new thought, gathering some new meaning from some small action. Though on the surface this is pure, gleefully gorgeous genre filmmaking, there’s a whole lot more at play. I’m eagerly awaiting the opportunity to see it again: sooner rather than later.
It is “good” to know that much like today Hollywood has always grasped onto ideas and pounded them into the ground. Back in the 1970s a string of horror movies came out which focused on the Church, Satan, possession and devils. A lot of bad horror movies came out around this time that contained very similar themes but in addition to those bad ones there were a few really strong entries into the Horror genre. The most famous of the successes are The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, but in addition to these two there is a lesser but still strong religious horror movie called The Sentinel.
Before diving into the movie itself I thought it would be fun to list off the cast. Chris Sarandon, Cristina Raines, Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith, Jose Ferrer, John Carradine, Eli Wallach, Martin Balsam, Arthur Kennedy, Christopher Walken, Jerry Orbach, Beverly D’Angelo, Tom Berenger, and Jeff Goldblum. I can’t think of another horror movie with this strong of supporting cast.
In The Sentinel Christina Raines stars as Alison Parker a model with a very troubled past. She has attempted suicide in the past after discovering her father having an affair and is now living with a caring boyfriend, Michael Lerman (Chris Sarandon). While Michael is out looking for a larger apartment for both of them to move into after they are married, Alison is looking for a smaller apartment which she can move into. Alison wants tells her friend that she needs to be independent for a year or two before she can settle down and marry Michael. After some searching Alison discovers an beautiful furnished apartment that is affordable and she moves in. She immediate meets her next door neighbor an old friendly eccentric (Burgess Meredith). Later she meets her downstairs neighbors, a pair of women. Her initial visit with them does not go well as one of the women starts to fondle herself right in front of Alison. Eventually she is invited to a birthday party fro the eccentric’s cat where everyone but the lone blind priest who lives in the attic is attending. That night she is haunted by noises coming from the room above her. Alison seeks out the real estate agent to complain about her bizarre neighbors and she is told that other than herself and the blind priest there is no one living in the building. The rest of the movie deals with whether Alison is hallucinating and whether or not the house is haunted.
What makes The Sentinel a success for me is a combination of a few things. First off the wonderful cast can not be ignored. Burgess Meredith as the friendly eccentric, Beverly D’Angelo as one of the lesbians in the basement, to John Carridine as the blind priest in the attic all help to contribute to a wonderfully quirky dark cast. Also when all hell breaks loose director Michael Winner chose to go the controversial route and use actual deformed people to represent demons and devils. This creates a very real dark feeling to a scene which could have been quite silly if they had gone the completely fake route. The final aspect which turns the The Sentinel into something more than just an Exorcist knock off is its potrayal of the Catholic church. Even though there are very few scenes involving the church itself The Sentinel still manages to create a sense of grandeur and presence which many other movies of the same ilk fail to achieve.
I remember when I was a kid I saw just a few scenes from this movie. The main one I remember is the introduction of the lesbian couple in the downstairs. I remembered it as being some major sexy scene. Now when I revisited this movie recently I see just how nasty, creepy and dark the scene is. Overall The Sentinel is just that, dark, nasty and creepy and it really is an overlooked horror gem.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for Day 12 of the 31 Days of Horror.
There haven’t been too many Oscar hopefuls so far this year. All indications coming out of TIFF is that there are a few contenders coming later this year (as we’ve come to expect) but outside of the recent The Soloist trailer, the epic that will be Baz Luhrmann’s Australia and the likely to be devastating The Road until now, little else has come along that screams Oscar quite as loudly as John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt.
The film stars Meryl Streep and Amy Adams as nuns, one young and optimistic and one old and cruel, who work at a school. When a young boy is called into the rectory by the priest, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, the two women assume the worst. The film is based on Shanley’s play and features, as is prominent in the trailer, “quick-fire dialogue tackles themes of religion, morality and authority.”
I love seeing Streep is this type of pure drama and can’t wait to see her square off against Seymour Hoffman. This is an actor’s movie and if it’s anywhere near as good as the trailer suggests, we’re in for a treat!
Doubt opens December 12th in limited release.
Trailer is tucked under the seat!
