Up in the Air (Movie Review)
12.1.2009 | By Jack Rico |
12.1.2009 | By Mack Chico |
“The Last Station,” a drama about the last year in the life of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, and “Precious,” a harrowing tale about a pregnant African American teenager with an abusive mother, dominated Tuesday’s nominations for the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards, with both films earning five nominations each.
“The Last Station,” which opens in theaters Friday, was nominated for best film, best director and screenplay for Michael Hoffman, best female lead for Helen Mirren and supporting actor for Christopher Plummer. “Precious” was also nominated for best film, best director for Lee Daniels, best first screenplay for Gregory Fletcher, best female lead for Gabourey Sidibe and supporting actress for Mo’Nique.
Notably missing for the list of nominees was the acclaimed Iraq war drama, “The Hurt Locker,” which won the Gotham Independent Film award for best picture and ensemble Monday night, because it was nominated by the Spirits last year after it played at several film festivals in 2008. The film was released in theaters in 2009.
Rounding out the best picture nominees are the romantic comedy “(500) Days of Summer,” “Amreeka,” a drama about a single immigrant mother and son living in a small Illinois town, and the Spanish-language thriller “Sin Nombre.”
Joining Hoffman and Daniels in the best director category are Ethan and Joel Coen for “A Serious Man,” Cary Joji Fukunaga for “Sin Nombre” and James Gray for “Two Lovers.”
“A Single Man,” “Crazy Heart,” “Easier With Practice,” Paranormal Activity” and “The Messenger” earned nominations for best first feature. Joining Fletcher in the best first screenplay category are Sophie Barthes for “Cold Souls,” Scott Cooper for “Crazy Heart,” Cherien Dabis for “Amreeka” and Tom Ford and David Scearce for “A Single Man.”
Rounding out the best female lead nominees are Mario Bello for “Downloading Nancy,” Nisreen Faour for “Amreeka” and Gwyneth Paltrow for “Two Lovers.”
Vying for best male lead are Jeff Bridges for “Crazy Heart,” Colin Firth for “A Single Man,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt for “(500) Days of Summer,” Souleymane Sy Savane for “Goodbye Solo” and Adam Scott for “The Vicious Kind.”
Joining Mo’Nique in the best supporting actress category are Dina Korzun for “Cold Souls,” Samantha Morton for “The Messenger,” Natalie Press for “Fifty Dead Men Walking” and Mia Wasikowska for “That Evening Sun.”
In addition to Plummer, supporting actor nominations went to Jemaine Clement for “Gentlemen Broncos,” Woody Harrelson for “The Messenger,” Christan McKay for “Me and Orson Welles” and Raymond McKinnon for “That Evening Sun.”
Competing with Hoffman in the best screenplay category are Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman for “The Messenger,” Lee Toland Krieger for “The Vicious Kind,” Greg Mottola for “Adventureland” and Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber for “(500) Days of Summer.”
“A Serious Man” is this year’s recipient of the Robert Altman Award, which is given to the film’s director(s), casting director and ensemble cast.
To be eligible for a Sprits consideration, a feature films must be 70 minutes in length and the cost of a completed project must be under $20 million. A film also must have either screened at a major film festival including Sundance, Toronto or Film Independent’s own Los Angeles Film Festival or had a one-week engagement at a commercial theater.
Over the past quarter-century, several winners of the Spirit Award have gone on to earn an Academy Award including Penelope Cruz for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and “Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody last year.
The laid-back awards’ ceremony traditionally takes place the Saturday afternoon before the Academy Awards in a massive tent on the beach in Santa Monica. But this year, the ceremony is moving to Friday evening March 5 in a tent on the event deck at L.A. Live downtown. The awards will air live and uncut on cable’s IFC.
Complete list of nominees for the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards, from Film Independent:
Best feature: “(500) Days of Summer,” “Amreeka,” “Precious,” “Sin Nombre,” “The Last Station”
Best director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, “A Serious Man”; Lee Daniels, “Precious”; Cary Joji Fukunaga, “Sin Nombre”; James Gray, “Two Lovers;” Michael Hoffman, “The Last Station”
Best screenplay: Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman, “The Messenger”; Michael Hoffman, “The Last Station”; Lee Toland Krieger, “The Vicious Kind”; Greg Mottola, “Adventureland”; Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber, “(500) Days of Summer”
Best first feature: “A Single Man,” “Crazy Heart,” “Easier With Practice,” “Paranormal Activity,” “The Messenger”
Best first screenplay: Sophie Barthes, “Cold Souls”; Scott Cooper, “Crazy Heart”; Cherien Dabis, “Amreeka”; Geoffrey Fletcher, “Precious”; Tom Ford, David Scearce, “A Single Man”
John Cassavetes Award: “Big Fan,” “Humpday,” “The New Year Parade,” “Treeless Mountain,” “Zero Bridge”
Best female lead: Maria Bello, “Downloading Nancy”; Nisreen Faour, “Amreeka”; Helen Mirren, “The Last Station”; Gwyneth Paltrow, “Two Lovers”‘ Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious”
Best male lead: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”; Colin Firth, “A Single Man”; Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “(500) Days of Summer”; Souleymane Sy Savane, “Goodbye Solo”; Adam Scott, “The Vicious Kind”
Best supporting female: Dina Korzun, “Cold Souls”; Mo’Nique, “Precious”; Samantha Morton, “The Messenger”; Natalie Press, “Fifty Dead Men Walking”; Mia Wasikowska, “That Evening Sun”
Best supporting male: Jemaine Clement, “Gentlemen Broncos”; Woody Harrelson, “The Messenger”; Christian McKay, “Me and Orson Welles”; Raymond McKinnon, “That Evening Sun”; Christopher Plummer, “The Last Station”
Best cinematography: Roger Deakins, “A Serious Man”; Adriano Goldman, “Sin Nombre”; Anne Misawa, “Treeless Mountain”; Andrij Parekh, “Cold Souls”; Peter Zeitlinger, “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”
Best documentary: “Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” “Food, Inc.,” “More Than a Game,” “October Country,” “Which Way Home”
Best foreign film: “A Prophet,” “An Education,” “Everlasting Moments,” “Mother,” “The Maid”
Acura Someone to Watch Award: Kyle Patrick Alvarez, “Easier With Practice”; Asiel Norton, “Redland”; Tariq Tapa, “Zero Bridge”
Truer Than Fiction Award: Natalia Almada, “El General”; Jessica Oreck, “Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo”; Bill Ross, Turner Ross, “45365”
Piaget Producers Award: Karin Chien, (“The Exploding Girl,” “Santa Mesa”); Larry Fessenden, (“I Sell the Dead,” “The House of the Devil”); Dia Sokol, (“Beeswax,” “Nights & Weekends”)
11.30.2009 | By Pau Brunet |
Studio execs should give plenty of thanks to female moviegoers: The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Blind Side led the best-ever Thanksgiving weekend at the box office by drawing women and families into theaters, while male-centric newcomers Old Dogs and Ninja Assassin only earned so-so numbers.
Following its record-breaking first weekend, first-place finisher New Moon brought in $66 million over the three-day (Friday through Sunday) weekend, driving its cume to a fantastic $230.7 million — the sixth highest of the year, just below Star Trek ($257.7 million). Not far behind, The Blind Side came in at No. 2 with $40.1 million by appealing to audiences who would rather watch a movie about football than stay home for a game on TV. With a $100.3 million total so far, the pigskin pic is Sandra Bullock’s second $100 million hit of the year after this summer’s The Proposal ($164 million).
Disaster pic 2012 ($18 million) continued to perform well, beating a duo of new releases: the Robin Williams-John Travolta buddy pic Old Dogs (fourth place, $16.8 million) and the actioner Ninja Assassin (sixth place, $13.1 million). With a $24.1 million total so far, Old Dogs hasn’t captured the same men-of-a-certain-age crowds that drove Travolta’s Wild Hogs to a $39.7 million debut back in 2007. Meanwhile, Disney’s A Christmas Carol (fifth place, $16 million) got a holiday bump, jumping 30 percent over last weekend to a total of $105.3 million.
Specialty pics found modest success, with the animated Fantastic Mr. Fox earning $7 million Fri.-Sun. in its first wide-release weekend, and The Road grossing $1.5 million at 111 theaters.
Overall, the box office raked in an all-time high of $278 million over the five-day weekend.
11.24.2009 | By Karen Posada |
This is definitely a chick flick for smart viewers; the drama which drags most chick flicks is taken lightly and sprinkled with unsuspected moments of hilarity. I didn’t know exactly what to expect of it but I came out glad to have gone through Pippa’s journeys along with her.
The film by director Rebecca Miller explores the life of Pippa Lee (Robin Wright Penn) a suburban housewife who seems to have it all together and be leading the perfect life. Her husband (Alan Arkin) an accomplished publisher who is 30 years older than her decides to move them out of NYC to a retirement community in Connecticut. Pippa as the perfect wife follows willingly, although we get a sense there’s something stirring within her that’s about to explode. She begins the narration of the life she has led up to the point where she met her current husband. We start seeing Pippa’s troubled past and wonder how she is so together in her present, but a series of weird occurrences take place which make everything fall in place. As her retired husband decides he can’t live in complete retirement she fills her time with activities and meets a younger man (Keanu Reeves), they begin to help each other through their paths of self-discovery.
Blake Lively from ‘Gossip Girl’ plays the younger version of Pippa Lee, her character’s fun, sensual personality combined with her innocence makes us want to help her out of the hole she digs herself into. Younger Pippa loves her mother (Maria Bello) but as she grows up she realizes her household is not what she thought it was, her mother’s addiction to drugs and her father’s (a priest) indifference takes her life for a spin.
These great actors are part of a puzzle that forms a beautifully imperfect picture. All the funny moments make the dramatic plot easy to watch without feeling overwhelmed or sad. Seeing how Pippa’s life turns out despite the complicated “lives” she’s led is delightful, seeing her come in to her own and finally realizing that there was no need to make a perfect persona but that accepting herself and the fact that life is full of surprises was the answer, gives us an uplifting conclusion.
11.24.2009 | By SBC Staff |
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and our editor-in-chief Jack Rico went to NBC‘s 30 Rockefeller Center in the heart of New York City, to chat with host David Ushery from The Debrief with David Ushery, about what family films to watch over the long awaited holiday weekend.
Among the films Jack suggested were:
On DVD
The Debrief with David Ushery can be seen on Non Stop New York, NBC’s new digital channel.
11.21.2009 | By Terry Kim |
For those who recognize the name in the title of Richard Linklater’s latest film may have an immediate attraction (or immediate aversion) to it. Read More
11.20.2009 | By Jack Rico |
Rated: R for graphic nudity and some language.
Release Date: 2009-05-01
Starring: Jim Jarmusch
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:Spain
Official Website: http://www.thelimitsofcontrol.com/
The quirky Ohio film director, Jim Jarmusch, known for his abstract, philosophical and excessively drawn out scenes, uses Spain as a beautiful backdrop in his new crime thriller ‘The Limits of Control’. The movie could be summed up as a deliberate banal and phlegmatic effort. There is barely any dialogue to push the story and the ending offers very little interest or excitement.
The minimal storyline concerns an unnamed assassin (Issach De Bankolé) who spends most of the film moving from location to location throughout Spain, collecting the information and equipment he requires to complete his latest assignment, the assassination of an American corporate bigwig (Bill Murray). He meets most of his contacts in cafes, although one woman (Paz de la Huerta) spends a few days nude with him in various hotel rooms. The film is based on a William S. Burroughs essay, a Rimbaud poem and vintage crime films, particularly John Boorman’s 1967 classic “Point Blank.”
It’s obvious after the first half of the film that Jarmusch intends to create a parable between the clashing of bohemianism and capitalism meant to be viewed as how corporate america has suppressed the highly intellectual culturati. The scant dialogue supports this theme by touching upon subjects as art, music, literature, cinema, science, sex, and hallucinations. Regrettably, the words are vapid and random as is the essence of the film. The resulting riddle won’t do anything to broaden the filmmaker’s loyal fan base as his many followers will be left feeling as alienated as his central character.
Noteworthy is Jarmusch’s new exploration of the Spanish and Hispanic culture. The first words uttered in the film are “Usted no habla español, verdad?†(You don’t speak Spanish, correct?) which is a phrase that is consistently used by the several diverse and bizarre characters as an introductory code when they all initially meet our protagonist. There are also some droll scenes that are mostly spoken in Spanish, as well as a long Flamenco sequence where a Spanish song is highlighted. The Hispanic theme also permeates into the casting choices with the hiring of acclaimed Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal and Spanish American actress Paz de la Huerta. Bernal’s performance is not a stretch of his acting abilities, but his showing is merely a decision to work with one of his favorite directors.
‘The Limits of Control’ is tedious, excessively sober and vastly abstract for the common moviegoer. An offense that needs to stopped and that perhaps never will.
11.20.2009 | By Namreta Kumar |
It seems like it took a long while coming, but New Moon just does not thrill audiences the same way Twilight, the movie or the books have. Overall the film covers the basics of the novel but fails to deliver as compelling a story. Read More
11.19.2009 | By Jack Rico |
One of Spain’s most talented sons gives cinema a new work titled ‘Broken Embraces’. Pedro Almodóvar reunites with Penélope Cruz to once again give us a visually sensual and beautiful, bold and impressive theater of the mind, but one that regrettably doesn’t break new ground. It is not his best film and thus the reason it wasn’t selected to participate in Spain’s Oscar selections for this upcoming ceremony. It is by no intention a bad film, it simply isn’t overwhelming. Were we asking for too much? Was that the problem? Read More
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