After eight years, I finished my 170 list, and I did it one day ahead of schedule (my 30th birthday)! My final film was DW Griffith’s 1916 epic Intolerance, starring Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, and Robert Harron.
Next up: the remaining 18 Oscar Best Picture winners that I have not yet seen. I’m giving myself until the 2013 Oscars to complete that list.
Official Synopsis:
A suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller, Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin explores the factious relationship between a mother and her son. Tilda Swinton, in a bracing, tour-de-force performance, plays the mother, Eva, as she contends for 15 years with the increasing malevolence of her first-born child, Kevin (Ezra Miller).
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, We Need to Talk About Kevin explores nature vs. nurture on a whole new level as Eva’s own culpability is measured against Kevin’s innate evilness. Ramsay’s masterful storytelling simultaneously combines a provocative moral ambiguity with a satisfying and compelling narrative, which builds to a chilling, unforgettable climax.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozm-hlPNGX4]The new US theatrical poster for Cannes favorite We Need to Talk About Kevin was recently released. It’s fitting, as the film was just named Best Film at the London Film Festival. It has also been bringing much praise to Tilda Swinton for her portrayal of a mother whose son (Ezra Miller) committed a Columbine-style massacre.
More info. about the film after the poster.
Synopsis:
A suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller, Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin explores the factious relationship between a mother and her son. Tilda Swinton, in a bracing tour-de-force performance, plays the mother, Eva, as she contends for 15 years with the increasing malevolence of her first-born child, Kevin (Ezra Miller).
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, We Need to Talk About Kevin explores nature vs. nurture on a whole new level as Eva’s own culpability is measured against Kevin’s innate evilness. Ramsay’s masterful storytelling simultaneously combines a provocative moral ambiguity with a satisfying and compelling narrative, which builds to a chilling, unforgettable climax.
The film opens in New York and LA for awards consideration on December 9. Its commercial release is slated for January 27, 2012.
Watch Oscar nominee John Hawkes perform “Marcy’s Song” from Martha Marcy May Marlene. Here’s the official music video of his cover of this Jackson C. Frank song. The film is in limited release now.
One slave leads an uprising in 73 BCE Italy against the Roman Empire. And that’s all we really need to know.
Those who follow this blog know that I put quite a bit of stock in AFI’s “100 Years … 100 Movies” list, which was released in 1997. Those movies (and then some) are all featured on my 170 list. Ten years later, in 2007, AFI decided it was time to revisit its list and reconsider it with a fresh perspective. (View the 10th Anniversary Edition here.) Though Spartacus did not make its way onto the original list, it did find itself placed nicely at #81 on the 2007 list. In fact, several movies off the original list dropped off, making way for several new additions (including Toy Story, Titanic, and The Last Picture Show, among many others). Many of the new additions are on my 170 list, but some are not. I consider those that aren’t as my “170 alternates”: movies that I will watch, but will not include among the others that I intend to watch before my 30th birthday. Spartacus is one of my alternates. (That said, I’ve seen all of my alternates except for Spartacus and Titanic, and I’ve always vowed that Titanic would be the last Best Picture winner that I’d watch.) Titanic aside, by the time of my 30th birthday I would have successfully completed my 170 list and my alternates. Feels good.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriter: Dalton Trumbo
Producer: Edward Lewis
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, John Gavin, Tony Curtis
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Epic
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Runtime: 184 min.
I caught a screening of the Michelle Williams-starring My Week with Marilyn, prior to its world premiere at the New York Film Festival today. This true story stars Williams as Marilyn Monroe during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) in England. Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) is a 23-year-old film enthusiast who pushes his way into working with Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) on his new film, which he’s directing and starring in opposite Monroe. Throughout filming, Olivier finds it difficult to work with the struggling Marilyn (she’s not the great actress she wants to be), who is newly married to famed playwright Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott). When Arthur leaves Marilyn’s side to be with his children in New York, the delicate and troubled Marilyn begins to confide in young Colin, who grows close to her despite the advice of everyone around.
The film is Simon Curtis’s feature directorial debut and also stars Emma Watson, Julia Ormond, Toby Jones, Dominic Cooper, Derek Jacobi, Zoë Wanamaker, and Judi Dench, with a script by Adrian Hodges, based on Clark’s diaries. It opens in theatres on November 4, undoubtedly with an awards push for Williams’s stunning performance.
Here are a few clips from today’s press conference at New York’s Walter Reade Theater, featuring Curtis, Williams, and Redmayne. (The sound quality is acceptable, but not ideal.)
[CLIPS HAVE BEEN DELETED.]
I started my “170” odyssey eight years ago. Now, I have just three movies left to watch before my 30th birthday in five weeks. Here they are:
Winner of three Academy Awards during the ceremony’s inaugural year, this is the story of a married farmer who falls in love with a city girl who tries to convince him to drown his wife. This is the first film to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography, and it features Janet Gaynor, the very first Best Actress winner. (In the earlier years, actors could be nominated for their body of work, rather than just one film. Gaynor won her award for this, 7th Heaven, and Street Angel.) Sunrise also won the award for Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production—a category that existed just that one year.
LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN (1948)
Joan Fontaine stars in this film about a pianist who receives a letter from a strange woman who may hold the key to his downfall. If there was any film on my 170 list that would have eluded me from reaching my goal, it would have been this one. This was the only movie I couldn’t find anywhere. I began to allow myself to be okay with watching just 169 of the films on my list before my 30th birthday, as this movie seemed “lost.” However, I didn’t give up. I found someone who was selling this movie and I bought it at a good price. It’s now sitting by my TV, waiting to be watched.
DW Griffith followed up his highly controversial The Birth of a Nation (1915) (also on my 170 list) with this epic saga. After Birth, this is the second oldest film on my list. Both star Lillian Gish and Mae Marsh, two highly prolific actresses from the era and arguably among the first bonafide movie stars. This film explores prejudice and intolerance throughout multiple periods in world history. I purposely chose to watch this film last because I’ve owned it for several years and have never been able to bring myself to watch it the whole way through. This film has been with me almost as long as my 170 list, so I thought it would be appropriate to finish off my list with it.
Based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s sophomore novel, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close tells the story of nine-year-old Oskar Schell, whose beloved father was killed in the 9/11 attacks. Young Oskar finds a strange key that was left behind by his dad, and he takes it upon himself to journey throughout New York City to find out what it unlocks.
I’m currently reading this book and have to say that the Oskar in my head while reading does not exactly match the Oskar in this trailer. Though the character’s precociousness is consistent, I don’t get the impression that Trailer Oskar would make the same fart references that Book Oskar does. And who doesn’t love a good fart reference? Still, I’m looking forward to this film, which features an impressive cast, including Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, James Gandolfini, John Goodman, Viola Davis, Max von Sydow, and Jeffrey Wright. Teen Jeopardy! winner Thomas Horn makes his acting debut as Oskar. The film is directed by three-time Oscar nominee Stephen Daldry (The Reader, The Hours, Billy Elliot).
Foer’s first novel, Everything Is Illuminated, was made into a 2005 Liev Schreiber-directed film starring Elijah Wood. Foer was just 25 years old when the book was published in 2002. What were you doing when you were 25?
Based on the Michael Lewis-penned book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, the film version with the abbreviated title is backed by a slew of awards favorites, including screenwriters Steven Zaillian (Oscar winner for Schindler’s List, 1993) and Aaron Sorkin (Oscar winner for The Social Network, 2010); director Bennett Miller (Oscar nominee for Capote, 2006); and producers Michael De Luca (Oscar nominee for The Social Network), Rachael Horovitz (Emmy winner for HBO’s Grey Gardens, 2009), and Scott Rudin (Oscar winner for No Country for Old Men, 2007). And then, of course, there’s the acting talent, lead by Brad Pitt (Oscar nominee for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 2008) with a supporting performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman (Oscar winner for Capote).
So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, “Oscar voters, pay attention.”
There are several things I love about the fall, my favorite season. Chief among them is that it’s the start of awards season—all of the year’s best movies are reserved until this time of year with the thought being that Academy Award voters are most likely to remember the last movies they see. (It’s not a surprise that films that open earlier in the year are largely ignored come February’s ceremony.) It’s all about strategy. And it works. Just ask Billy Beane (portrayed by Pitt in Moneyball), who leveraged an unconventional strategy to build a successful baseball team in 2002. (Excuse me while I pat myself on the back for this pretty awesome segue.)
Summary:
Billy Beane was once a would-be baseball superstar who, stung by the failure to live up to expectations on the field, turned his fiercely competitive nature to management. Heading into the 2002 season, Billy faces a dismal situation: his small-market Oakland A’s has lost its star players (again) to big-market clubs (and their enormous salaries) and is left to rebuild his team and compete with a third of its payroll. Driven to win, Billy takes on the system by challenging the fundamental tenants of the game. He looks outside of baseball, to the dismissed theories of Bill James, and hires Peter Brand, a brainy, number-crunching, Yale-educated economist. Together, they take on conventional wisdom with a willingness to re-examine everything and armed with computer-driven statistical analysis long ignored by the baseball establishment. They reach imagination-defying conclusions and go after players overlooked and dismissed by the rest of baseball for being too odd, too old, too injured, or too much trouble, but who all have key skills that are universally undervalued. As Billy and Peter forge forward, their new methods and roster of misfits rile the old guard, the media, the fans, and their own field manager, who refuses to cooperate. Ultimately, this experiment will lead not only to a change in the way the game is played, but to an outcome that would leave Billy with a new understanding that transcends the game and delivers him to a new place. (courtesy of Yahoo! Movies)
Director: Bennett Miller
Screenwriters: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
Producers: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Scott Rudin
Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt
Genre: Drama, Sport
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Official Site: moneyball-movie.com
Runtime: 133 min.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiAHlZVgXjk]
There’s plenty that India has given us that is worthy of our utmost appreciation: the Taj Mahal, curry chicken, Bollywood. Nope. Scratch that. I could live without Bollywood. But I couldn’t live without filmmaker Tarsem Singh (or just Tarsem). That’s not true, either. I could live without him, but then the world of cinematic wonders that I so greatly enjoy would be without the color and imagination that Tarsem so expertly infuses into it.
He’s only released two films to date with a third release coming up in November and another currently in production, but even before his films, Tarsem has been a success in the world of music videos and advertising. His first major work was the award-winning video for R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion.” From there, he went on to direct some of advertising’s most recognized and awarded TV spots for clients like Levi’s, Nike, Pepsi, Reebok, Coca-Cola, and others.
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