Appreciating Rockwell

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Zac Petrillo

I am fully aware that I have a bad habit of getting overly excited about something that has struck me unexpectedly. A movie, a book, a performance, a concept, an idea, etc. If I haven’t yet thought it, then naturally, like any good narcissist, I think that it must be talked about until the next thing comes along to captivate me. I’m trying to help it, but nonetheless it’s a work in progress. I will completely concede that my new interest in Sam Rockwell might be irrational, but it sure feels different. Since seeing Sam Rockwell’s cage-shaking performance in Seven Psychopaths, I’ve been thinking a great deal about the performer and about the ways in which our media machine works in general. Basically, why in the world has Sam Rockwell not been penciled-in as one of the top 10 or 15 best actors working today? In fact, if I asked people to name the best American actors alive, I’d venture to guess not one would mention Rockwell’s name. If they did, it would be an aberration. Does he not cry enough? Yell enough? Suffer enough?

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Posted in Films, Movies, News, Oscar Talk, Sam Rockwell, Seven Pscyhopaths | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Disney Takes on Alexander’s Terrible, No Good Day

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Zac Petrillo

With the recent news that Disney will reignite the movie adaptation of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, the introverted grumpy child in some of us has been rekindled. I’ve been following this project for years now for a number of reasons. Firstly, I actually quite enjoy the sub-genre of live action films that are too heady to be outright children’s films, but too grounded in a sense of innocence to be an all-out adult story. I’d count Where the Wild Things Are as a paramount example of this type of film. These projects tend to flop in the box office since they aren’t easily categorized, often containing loftier ideas than most mainstream movies at all.

Secondly, I was interested in this project because of the involvement of director Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right) and star Steve Carell. Cholodenko will work from her own script, making me assume this is a personal project for her. The only way for a story like Alexander to work is if it comes from the perspective of a person who, at 5 years old, understood this boy’s plight. Even if Alexander didn’t exist as a book, his surly need for seclusion will always exist in some of us at that age.

Finally, I’m most interested in this project because when I was 5 years old, I believed I was Alexander. He was the 2D, almost breathing, fully imagined, invisible best friend that I never had. He was my childhood mentor. Not Luke Skywalker or Indiana Jones or Howard the Duck. Alexander. The boy who was just having a bad friggin’ day.

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OSCAR FORECAST: Best Visual Effects 2013

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Zac Petrillo

Best Visual Effects Predictions (as of 10-25-12):
Life of Pi
Cloud Atlas
Prometheus
The Dark Knight Rises
The Avengers

Say what you will about the movie industry being inundated by Visual Effects-heavy output with cuts that fly by almost as fast as the eye can comprehend, but the imagery has continuously gotten more impressive over the past decade. If anything in the movies has certainly advanced, it’s what can be created with a computer. The art of VFX, much like the Academy Awards themselves, still get a bad rap though. Nonetheless, last year’s winner, Hugo, pushed Visual Effects to another level by using 3D imagination as a portal not only into Paris of the early 1900s and the mind of a young boy, but to the heart of cinematic magic in general. It was both progressive and nostalgic.

Similarly, Inception and Avatar used diverse means of creating alternate universes that were to that point unseen in the landscape of cinema. Now more than ever, as the Kubrick quote goes, if it can be written or thought, it can absolutely be filmed.

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Prometheus Sounds Get Under Your Skin

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Zac Petrillo

Perhaps the most polarizing studio film to emerge in a long time, Prometheus uses B-Movie concepts to tackle weighty issues like the origins of man and the notion of masters, slaves, and creators. Something has to be said for a film that divides not only critics and audiences against each other, but also those groups amongst themselves. For what it’s worth, I thought the film successfully balanced throwback science fiction aesthetics with the kind of high-concept storytelling that classic Sci-Fi writers like Heinlein, Bradbury, and Dick made their names on.

What nobody can argue about Prometheus is that it’s a wellspring of excellent technical craft. This short video from SoundWorks about the sound design of the movie takes a look at how the team created old-fashioned sound effects that allude to the past Alien films. They also created an entirely fictitious language to authenticate Scott’s vision. The efforts to sculpt a world conceptualized from scratch, gives off an aura that has a distinct way of burrowing under a viewer’s skin. The sounds always seem ever-present, if also light enough to only float along the edges of the story. The soundscape helped make every scene feel like you might actually be inside a hollow cave or an airy spaceship, with each subtle sound heightened.

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Catching Up To Haneke’s Amour

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Zac Petrillo

With Amour almost about to bow in the United States, I thought it time to start talking about one of cinema’s treasures: Michael Haneke. Like all great artists, the moment the world seems to finally catch up with Haneke, he pulls another rabbit out of his hat and transforms again.

First it was Cache (his first relatively mainstream American presence) and its stripped-down magic trick of forcing us to consider the cinematic lens as an intrusive object to be feared as much as forgotten. Unlike most American filmmakers, Haneke comes from the school that believes the process of what’s behind the camera is as important as what’s being manufactured in front of it. Then it was the American version of Funny Games, his confrontational and dubious remake of his own previous effort. The creation of this shot-for-shot remake, fit with an argumentative tone, seems like one Gordian knot of social commentary towards the contemporary Hollywood picture. As though he wants to laugh in our faces by remaking himself. Many critics, including Roger Ebert, seemed onto the trick and found it condescending. Next, Haneke went to Black & White and more cryptic than ever with The White Ribbon. He’s always been compelled by getting at the root of humanity’s love for violence. In The White Ribbon, he crafted a tale that asks if evil is inherent or something born out of the nurture of children.

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A Bond Newbie’s Thoughts on 007: The World is Not Enough

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Zac Petrillo

Short Take: A solid action flick with one memorably atrocious performance, The World is Not Enough is actually a cut above blockbusters of today, even if it’s not all that interesting on its own.

The third entry in the Brosnan Bond’s settles into a serviceable, if somewhat corporate, action thriller that nicely erases the bad taste of Tomorrow Never Dies if not completely surpassing GoldeneEye. With some exciting villains, the filmmakers thankfully abandoned the “world annihilation” thread while also creating a sadistic man with an actual pragmatic reasoning for his insanity. Additionally, the femme fatale slithers through the screen with a layered complexity unseen in all the Bond movies I’ve watched (except in shades in Quantum of Solace).

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11 Semi-Bold Oscar Predictions

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Zac Petrillo

The marathon has gotten to around mile number 14. About the time where everybody with a movie blog (including yours truly) spends far too much time on other movie blogs, figuring out who will be in the Oscar race. The last few years, Oscar blogs have been to Oscar what ESPN has been to end-of-season sports awards: rallying cries for certain favorites to win. In some ways, its felt like the movie blogs vs. the voters. I guess this is a good thing, except that no process is truly democratic, so some deserving candidates, that might otherwise have given a fair shake, are pushed even further to the bottom. No support from the apparent “experts” and even less from the apparent “decision-makers” Looking ahead, there’s a few things that are now up in the air. It’s about that time where a few risky predictions are in order. So, here goes:

Either Lincoln OR Les Misérables (Not Both) Will Get Nominated for Best Picture
And it will likely be Lincoln, though one has to wonder if pundits are overstated the film’s presence. Nonetheless, early critics seem to be behind it, so it will likely get the thrust it needs for a nomination. On the contrary, Les Miz has all the makings of a winner with recent Oscar lineage, but will there be a backlash? Will Lincoln supporters turn against Les Miz and split the vote? It’s possible. It’s also possible that Lincoln will play as a stuffy bore against Les Miz’s exciting visionary appeal. Everyone assumes both are locks, but “what if”?

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Homeland, Ep. 204: New Car Smell

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Zac Petrillo

When people look back on Homeland as a series, they will likely point to a handful of episodes that set it apart from other political dramas like it. These episodes show why Homeland might forever make us rethink serial political fiction. The fourth episode of Season Two, “New Car Smell,” will undoubtedly be one of the ones people point to. Not only because Homeland finally blows up its foundation, but because on the way to its shocking conclusion, realistic characterizations – the stuff this whole house of cards has been built on – are tightened to their most interesting degrees. A finely-tuned cat and mouse game, handled with subtlety rather than fireworks, “New Car Smell” brings Carrie and Brody face to face again, only this time the interactions are filled with none of the gentle subtext of Season One. Now it’s all bottled-up venom and boiled hurt.

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A Bond Newbie’s Thoughts on 007: Tomorrow Never Dies

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Zac Petrillo

Short Take: Fit with images and writing reminiscent of campy graphic novels, Tomorrow Never Dies undermines its potential to be a fun thriller with a lack of any serious direction.

Officially entering my first real foray in the world of James Bond cheese, I met Tomorrow Never Dies with some initial hope for a playful charmer. That hope was slowly dashed by mindless action scenes that litter the second half. Rampant sexual innuendos and bombastic plot lines, that were sometimes metaphors for our media machine today, almost had me hooked on believing that this film might be onto something. Ultimately, Tomorrow Never Dies left me exhausted by what a mess it was destined to become. A perfect example of blockbuster profiteering at its worst, this seemingly intelligent plot doesn’t take itself seriously at all. There’s no fun in watching a film that thinks any dumb stunt will be entertaining enough to sustain an audience’s excitement.

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IDA Noms Solidify Documentary Favorites

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Zac Petrillo

Usually we can count on the International Documentary Association awards shedding new light on some relatively unknown non-fiction films. This year the nominations line up pretty closely with those that I was already anticipating, with Searching for Sugar Man and The Queen of Versailles getting some much-deserved attention. Also, it looks like Ken Burns might finally breakthrough in the world of multiplexes with the highly anticipated The Central Park Five. Click the link below to see the new, official trailer for The Central Park Five.

As for the shorts, three were shortlisted for the Oscar this year and two were nominated for the Oscar last year, including the winner, Saving Face.

Feature nominees:
The Central Park Five
The Invisible War
The Queen of Versailles
Searching for Sugar Man
Women with Cows

The shorts:
God is the Bigger Elvis
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Saving Face

Click for the new The Central Park Five trailer:

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