Fall Preview: The Only New Releases I Care About
Posted on | September 7, 2011 | No Comments
There are a lot of movies currently generating buzz on the festival circuit (vestiges of Cannes, Venice, Telluride, and forthcoming from TIFF and New York). But with theatrical releases running at $13 a pop in New York, I am being picky about what gets my voting dollars:
DRIVE (In theaters September 16)
Cannes Director’s Award winning first collaboration between Nicholas Winding Refn and leading man Ryan Gosling. Love the trailer hat-tip – however un/intentional – to Hong Kong cinema.
MELANCHOLIA (in theaters November 4th)
Latest from strong female protagonst champion director Lars Von Trier.
THE ARTIST (in theatres November 23)
A modern black and white silent film with a charming Jack Russell terrier cameo
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (US release date TBD)
Human Italian Greyhound, the striking Tilda Swinton plays mother to a high school shooter reminiscent of Columbine.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
- Butter (premiered at Telluride with no release date but with a pre-awards season push): comedy starring Jennifer Garner as a very prescient Tracy Flick/Michelle Bachmann-type housewife who aims to take down an adopted African American girl in an Iowan butter carving contest.
- Take This Waltz (premiering at Toronto Film Festival with no release date): comedy starring Michelle Williams as Seth Rogen’s bored housewife. Co-starring Sarah Silverman.
- My Week With Marilyn (in theaters November 4): about Marilyn’s time in London whilst wife to Arthur Miller. There was a time in my life where all I read was Marilyn Monroe biographies. True embarrassing fact.
- The Descendants (in theaters December 16) George Clooney cast against type as a dad of two whose wife cheats on him in Alexander Payne’s (Sideways) latest.
- Goodbye, First Love
Animal Cruelty
Posted on | August 23, 2011 | No Comments
“I have a lot of nicknames for him,” I tell R, petting her dog. “The first time you had me dogsit, he actually wouldn’t answer to his name because I didn’t call him that the entire time.”
“Oh? So what did you call him?”
“Let’s see: Mr. Sassypants, Pupples, Little Man, Lovebug, Handsy – because he uses his front paws a lot, um…” I grow quiet. “Stupidhead….”
“Oh yes!” she says. He licks her.
“I call him stupidhead, too.”
Extra Credit: Read ‘Super Sad True Love Story’
Posted on | August 22, 2011 | No Comments
Okay. I finished this book over a week ago and I have to admit – despite my best intentions, Gary Shteyngart‘s Super Sad True Love Story has been a slow burn love creep for me.
At first I was excited to read this because of its satirical, humorous tone. The book’s protagonist Lenny Abramov even reminded me of Sam Lipsyte’s Milo Burke in The Ask. As I continued, however, I realized this commonality might be a double-edged sword…after all, did I actually finish The Ask despite its strong start? Answer: nope! Read more
Your Homework: See ‘Another Earth’
Posted on | August 19, 2011 | No Comments
Co-writer, co-producer, and lead actress Brit Marling on playing Rhoda Williams in Another Earth:
The toughest thing was to not show the character wallowing in this unbearable grief and self-pity. I didn’t want Rhoda to be this way. I was looking for her grieving to be active. I didn’t want her to be a victim of what happened to her, but I wanted her actively trying to do something to change her situation and make good of what is going to happen. There are so many moments in the film where you see her unraveling and sort of say, “I can’t bear the weight of this.” To try to find ways to make her a warrior against this, that is challenging.
Although I had declined invitations to earlier screenings of this 2011 Grand Jury prize winning Sundance darling, this quote I stumbled upon finally persuaded me otherwise. It appealed to my woman warrior acting self, the one who was nervous about keeping herself inspired over her summer vacation from conservatory. And since that opening weekend in July, I have probably thought about “Another Earth” every day since. Inspiration? Triple checked.
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