Well, here’s some grand news – Roger Ebert is bringing back At the Movies as Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies. The co-hosts will be respected film critics Christy LeMire and Elvis Mitchell. Ebert himself will appear with the aid of computer-generated speech in the “Roger’s Office” segment. The show will also include movie bloggers Kim Morgan (sunsetgun.com) and Omar Moore (popcornreel.com). Ebert and his wife Chaz have gone back to the show’s roots and are producing the show for public television stations.
It’s common that a movie trailer will turn me off from seeing a film that I suspect is bad. But sometimes a trailer makes me think that it’s a pretty good movie that I don’t want to see, either. That’s the case with Conviction, the story of a young woman whose brother is convicted of murder; over 18 years, she gets her GED, her college and law degrees and begins a legal struggle to clear him and rescue him from Death Row. It’s an Oscar vehicle for Hilary Swank, who plays the sister, and what appears to be another fine performance by Sam Rockwell, who plays the brother. It’s based on the true story of one Betty Anne Waters.
The problem for me is that the film looks self righteous, overly earnest and humorless. It’s just too damn inspirational. Melissa Leo, who can add texture to any performance, apparently has been given a one-note cardboard cut-out role of a close-minded cop.
And here’s a lawyer’s quibble: You wouldn’t expect somebody right out of night law school to overturn a murder conviction with a well-reasoned appeal – and she doesn’t. Instead, she gets the Innocence Project to test the DNA, which clears the brother (that isn’t a spoiler if you’ve seen the trailer). Now you don’t need to go to law school to involve the Innocence Project – they get involved on the wishes of the non-lawyer relatives of convicts all the time. So the 18-year struggle may be extraordinary, but that’s not what gets the brother off.
This trailer reminds me of the one for The Duchess, which featured Keira Knightly adorned in 18th century finery in a spectacular shot with hundreds of candles – and made me want to gag. No The Duchess for me.
Speaking of trailers, I really enjoy another (even more irreverent) WordPress blog, The Trailer Trashers. Their tag line is “The only critics who dare review movies BEFORE we see them”. Yes, they review the trailers. Give them a look see.
Well, here’s a surprise. In David Fincher’s upcoming film versions of the Stieg Larsson novels, Lisbeth Salander will be played by…Rooney Mara. 25-year-old Rooney Mara, sister of Kate, will play in Fincher’s The Social Network this October, so he must know something. She also has a few credits in TV guest slots, plus a Nightmare on Elm Street movie. She was also in Youth in Revolt, a nice little movie that I saw in January, but I have no memory of Rooney in it.
The entire success of the film trilogy depends on the portrayal of Lisbeth Salander. Is Rooney Mara a good choice? Right now, I’ll withhold judgement. It’s important to realize that Noomi Rapace, the actress who has so convincingly played Lisbeth in the Swedish versions, is not naturally a psycho hard ass – she undertook lots of preparation for the role, including six months of kick boxing AND a special diet AND the body piercings to harden herself for the role.
Noomi Rapace not playing Lisbeth SalanderNoomi and son
Don’t wait for me to comment on Eat Pray Love because I absolutely no interest in seeing it. I am just not in the target audience for this film: I haven’t read the book, I am not a woman and I don’t care for Julia Roberts.
I don’t hesitate to watch a movie in a genre that I generally don’t like if it seems like one of the year’s best or really good for the genre: Inception (summer blockbuster), Zombieland (zombies), The Dark Knight and Iron Man (comic book). District 9 (sci fi) and (500) Days of Summer and Away We Go (rom com).
In this case, I have seen the trailer and read the reviews of Eat Pray Love. Yesterday it had a Metacritic score of 50. My guess is that the millions of people who enjoyed the book will also enjoy the movie. God bless.
As I said yesterday, the thing that Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert did better than anyone was to evangelize good films with their series At the Movies (which ends this weekend). They helped create audiences for indie and foreign films that were ignored by the Hollywood promotion machine. They even had the guts to rate documentaries like Hoop Dreams and Crumb as their picks for the year’s best film. Without Siskel and Ebert, I would never seen some of the greatest films of the 80s and 90s.
Here are Siskel and Ebert introducing a great indie film, David Mamet’s House of Games.
And a great foreign film (that launched a great film trilogy), Blue.
And the revival of a restored classic film noir, Touch of Evil.
At the Movies ends its long run on television this weekend. The show went through different versions in the last few years, but its greatness was in the two decades of Gene Siskel and Robert Ebert – their concept, their standards and their passion.
On a personal note, I would say that, along with an excellent local art house theater, Siskel & Ebert’s At the Movies helped me develop my passion for film more than any other factor. In fact, At the Movies’ Sunday evening broadcast was the reason that I got my very first VCR.
The thing that Siskel and Ebert did better than anyone was to evangelize good films that were out of the Hollywood mainstream, bringing attention to and creating audiences for independent film, foreign films, documentaries and to new and indie film makers. Here’s a great example – Siskel and Ebert’s review of Mike Leigh’s great Secrets and Lies.
Well, we’re at the halfway point of the movie year – the summer movies are winding down, and the Oscar bait is still ahead of us in the autumn and holidays. So it’s time to take stock of the year’s movies to date. I now have ten movies on my list of Best Movies of 2010 – So Far. You can read my comments and watch the trailers on the Best Movies of 2010 – So Far page.
Better yet, you can see Toy Story 3and Inception in the theater this week.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, A Prophet, The Girl on the Train, Fish Tank, The Ghost Writer and Sweetgrass are all available on DVD right now. Sweetgrass is also available on Netflix streaming video.
The Secrets of Their Eyes will be available on DVD on September 21. The DVD release of my top film of the year so far, Winter’s Bone, is October 26.
There’s some good news about the upcoming Hollywood versions of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy. First, David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) will direct, and Fincher’s track record suggests that he is the perfect guy to pull this off.
Second, Hollywood is planning to make all three films (instead of just the first or compressing them into one movie).
Third, Entertainment Weekly reports that Daniel Craig will play Mikael Blomkvist. If you’ve seen the gritty British crime drama Layer Cake, you know that Craig can play the smart and understated Blomkvist.
Still, the success of the project depends on who will play Lisbeth Salander – and we still don’t know. My first choice is the Danish actress Noomi Rapace who has originated the role, and she speaks English well; but on the extra features of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo DVD, Rapace says that, after living with Lisbeth for 18 months of prep and filming, she is done with the character. Carey Mulligan has been quoted that it won’t be her, either. So we watch and wait.
When I saw Inception, the theater was selling D-Box tickets for an $8 premium (added to the ticket price).
Last week, after a test drive, I trashed the latest Hollywood gimmick, D-Box motion effects seats. To “enhance” the action or tension on the screen, the D-Box theater seat jolts, wiggles, tilts, swerves, etc. I found it to be more like the experience of dropping a quarter in a motel massage bed. With an $8 premium, that means ticket prices closing in on 20 bucks to distract the moviegoer with a few jolts and wiggles.
And, finally, Inception is a legitimately exciting movie. It doesn’t need the gimmick, which I’m sure just distracts from the cinematic experience.
“Two Ladies: Are You Team Bella, or Team Lisbeth?” NPR’s Fresh Air’s John Powers has written a very insightful essay on this year’s two most popular – and contrasting – female role models – Bella of the Twilight series and Lisbeth of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy. An excellent read.
Note to Patricia: The only reason that I haven’t yet seen The Girl Who Played With Fire, is that I’m waiting for my wife to finish the book before we go; she assures me that we’ll make it to the theater this weekend. I’m glad that you found Played With Fire gripping.
