DP/30: The Whistleblower, director/co-writer Larysa Kondracki

Review-ish: Crazy, Stupid, Love.

I liked Crazy Stupid Love.

Then I wanted to fall deeply in love with it.

And then, when we separated, I couldn’t quite figure out why I wasn’t.

Well, truth is, I kinda knew. I knew when the first major scene between Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone was a slice of movie perfection, balancing irony, romance, and the fantasies we all have about people who aren’t quite offering all that they are to the world.

Problem was… it was the B story that was skyrocketing. The A story was… nice and had a good personality. The C story was also a nip more interesting than the A story.

But okay… I’m still with this film… maybe that scene was the start of something GREAT.

And then, there is this massive, interesting, charming top-of-the-third-act twist… and it’s great… and yet, not.

So my brain is whirring, trying to figure out why this beautiful girl who is smart and loves me and loves sex and loves movies, etc, isn’t really The One.

The answer seems easy. Third act surprise should have been the second act surprise and the film needed to dump some of the boring stuff and let the exciting parts fly.

But then, I realize how odd this film’s construction really is and that it is really a souffle and that maybe it could be completely ruined by trying to fix it at all. Where you start and where you end in this tale feels right… it’s where the audience wants to go. But it becomes unwieldy and awkward through the middle.

Hmmm…

Kevin Bacon, for me, gives another strong performance this summer in a role he shouldn’t have been cast in. He just unbalances his role in the piece by being… Kevin Bacon.

On the other hand, Marisa Tomei is pretty great… game… funny. Probably in the movie a little too much at one point because she draws focus, but she was just about perfect.

It’s Carell’s movie and he carries it effortlessly. Julianne Moore is without imperfection, but it’s not her film. Analeigh Tipton is a real find… a real-life version of Violet from The Incredibles, a couple of years further along in her development. A lighter Shelley Duvall. Jonah Bobo is not quite as interesting, but he never hits a false note.

And Gosling & Stone each get to flex their muscles. At least half of their line readings are hiding something and each manages to get across the text and the subtext perfectly. This movie frustrated me even more about Stone doing The Amazing Spider-Man because she should be doing leads, not playing The Girl, not matter how much more active this girl is than girls in Spidey’s past incarnations. Gosling remains The Next Great Hope for a male movie superstar. All he has to do is to want it enough.

So… in closing… LOVED parts of the film… liked most of the film… cast was solid and at times perfect. It’s a throwback to John Hughes and even further, to Howard Hawks or gentle Billy Wilder.

But it’s not the great film that its DNA wants to build. It could have been a true classic. But it’s not. It’s good. But it’s too complicated and too simple and too distracted and not distracted enough. And one straw of change could ruin the whole thing.

Thing is, when I look at screenwriter Dan Fogelman’s resume, I get it. Fred Claus, Bolt, Tangled. Very similar problems. I have no idea how rewritten this film was. The directors are screenwriters as well. But all four films were loaded with great stuff… and all four needed a strong producer who could break and reset the bones of the screenplays to take them from “good” to “great.”

There is a 5 minute sequence in this film that I would put on every loop of the greatest romantic films of all time. There is an entire film in those few minutes.

And then there’s the rest, which I won’t probably stop to watch when I pass by it on cable/satellite next year.

Wait. Lying. I will watch the movie again. Maybe a few times. Because I want to understand what went so right and what went so wrong.

Some people seem to LOVE this movie… some seem to have been really disappointed.

I get that.

Weekend Estimates by Klady (Analysis by Poland)

Apes, with much critical love out there, was right in the middle of the low end of the summer opening pack, between Green Lantern and X-Men: First Class. And thus, the hard part about opening in August. There is a glass ceiling, essentially. Some film may crack it some day. It used to be considered to be much lower. What was $45m five years ago is now $55m. And totals are pretty much capped, for originals, at $150m, unless you have a true phenom. There’s a similar glass ceiling on openings in the last two weeks of December… but the upside is wide open. The Apes end game will play out across the globe, though the film seems sure to be successful… the question is how successful?

As for The Change-Up, Cinemascore is reporting a majority female audience. In the parlance of the film, “What The Fuck?!?!” I’ve offered up my marketing issues before. Some people commented that they had seen harder materials for the film, but I assume they are talking about the red band trailer. I’m talking about what I saw on TV… and it wasn’t hard edged until this last week. It’s always possible that I’m not watching enough SpikeTV or Jersey Shore, but apparently, neither were college-aged boys. And to give critics credit for bringing down the film is laughable. Tell that to WB as they watch Crazy Stupid Love struggle to get to Bad Teacher numbers.

The Smurfs are looking like they will end up a bit behind Kung Fu Panda 2 domestically. Captain America is having stronger weekday results than Thor, which is why it is keeping pace with the blonde bombshell, in spite of weaker weekends. This puts it right in line with all the in-house Marvel films, except for Iron Man movies. Thor made money because of a surprisingly strong result overseas. Will Cap?

Cowboys & Aliens is the dud of the summer. It’s running about $20 million behind Green Lantern and falling further behind daily. $100m domestic isn’t likely and in spite of the stars, one still has to question whether there is much business in a US dud half-cowboy movie overseas.

Harry Potter should hit $350 million domestic by this time next week. Transformers, sometime in the week after that. They’ll be the only $260m+ grossers of this rather solid box office summer. There were thirteen $100m movies last summer… fifteen this year. Profits are spread out this summer… but what’s really missing are the number of money losers. Very short list this summer.

Midnight in Paris will pass $50 million in the next week or so. So will Friends With Benefits, which will outgross Will Gluck’s last film, Easy A, even if it doesn’t feel like a raging success.

In the art houses, Screen Gems is doing well with Attack The Block and Sony Classics with The Guard. The happy surprises of the weekend remain Bellflower and Gun Hill Road. And Searchlight has quietly squired Snow Flower & The Secret Fan past the million dollar mark.

BYOB Weekend: #apeswinning

Friday Estimates by Money’s Uncle Klady

(Editor’s Note: Chart Edited at 2:30p MCdt to reflect typo on Bellflower gross. $9300, not $93,000)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is one of those weird box office situations. It’s a well-liked movie. But opening weekend is opening weekend. This is an established multi-generational franchise. But opening day is not as strong as Green Lantern, X-Men: First Class or Captain America (or GI Joe, for that matter). So much as I respect Oren Aviv’s marketing skill, I can’t count this as a big win for Fox marketing. It’s more like they went fairly traditional and it almost bit them on the ass. The movie is probably going to save them from disappointment with strong word of mouth, which will probably move the numbers in the next 3 weeks.

These are interesting times in movie marketing, especially in the loaded-to-the-gills summer. Fox had no way of knowing for sure what a stiff Cowboys & Aliens would be or that Universal would have such a hard time making noise with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. (Ford was at his most effective on Letterman, where two guys in their 60s smirked ironically through a jazz interview. Wrong audience.) But you have to know when you have a real hit movie on your hands. And when there has been as much resistance to it out there as there has been, you need to get the thing rolling in a positive way earlier… not embargoing to the last second. (Even with the embargo getting smashed 36 hours early, it was always week-of-release.)

I know… it was Potter to Cap to C&A and where were they going to get traction? Well, welcome to 2011, guys. Potter had its own orbit, but after that, Apes would have been the clearly dominant buzz picture. Unless you’re already tracking through the roof, ya gotta release the kraken.

The issue of just how good your multiple can be on a summer movie has changed for the worst over time as the studios have frontloaded more and more aggressively. The anomaly of the summer is clearly Bridesmaids, which is currently at 6.3x opening. Next are Horrible Bosses and Zookeeper at 3.6x open. Super 8 was leggy, by this summer’s standard, at 3.53x opening. And Mr Popper’s Penguins has done 3.52x opening off of a weak start.

Transformers 3 is the most leggy film with an opening over $36m, doing 3.49x open. Staying on that track, Panda 2 has done 3.4x opening, Hang2/2.95x, and Cars 2/2.78x.

Now we get to the Superhero group. Thor/2.75x opening. X-M:FC, 2.63x opening, Lantern 2.15x, and Cap, still early in its journey, is currently at 2.06x. All opening at $53m – $65m. Range 2.2x opening – 2.8x opening.

That’s pretty much the group I would stick Apes into. If it does exceptionally well for a rebooting franchise, 3x opening. Especially in August, where there isn’t as much summer left to play through. So $135m – $170m domestic for Apes? No 3D bump? Pretty damned good. (Hangover 2 is the only film in the summer’s current Top 6 that is not in 3D.) But based on how people are responding to the film, you would imagine the possibility of it being in the mid-2s with the bigger boys. Of course, it could be much bigger internationally… and the fact that so much of it plays like a silent film with music and sfx doesn’t hurt one bit.

And look… Fox is claiming that the film cost under $100m. Even if it cost $125m, as with Tr3, we’re seeing an exponential growth in the amount of character CG that these movies are using at these prices. I think that’s one of the big stories of the summer. Not only is the up-close-and-personal CG quality of something like Apes better than we might have expected 3 or 4 years ago, but one would have to guess that doing the same movie 3 or 5 years ago would have cost double. And as I said of Trannies 3, it really felt like Bay was able to use the bots as fully realized characters for the first time in this one… not like he was picking moments to highlight the Transformer effect.

More importantly – I guess – is that if the international is as strong as I expect it will be, it will be a very profitable film. And when you make this film for $200m… not so profitable… and a lot more anxiety producing for a studio.

Also opening today, the sixth R-rated comedy of the summer, The Change-Up.

I guess it’s time for a Crazy Nikki rant…. skip the next graf if it’s going to bore you…

God, I wish people who knew nothing about box office would stop trying to appear to know something about box office by being FIRST! I’m used to the “get ‘er wrong” guesses at the weekend based on East Coast matinees and the overwrites and rationalizations, this weekend going from “might beat Cowboys & Aliens” to the reality that Apes will open 50% better than C&A. But letting Universal throw Ryan Reynolds under the bus by claiming he’s supposed to be a $20m opener… just shitty. It’s lovely to say it, buy has he EVER done it? Answer: no. He’s been in four $20m+ openers in his career. Green Lantern, Wolverine, and The Amityville Horror were undeniably driven by franchise, not actors. The only star vehicle to open over 20 was The Proposal… which was driven almost exclusively by Sandra Bullock’s light. Reynolds was terrific in it, but not his opening. So if Universal exec X thought Reynolds was a 20m opener, that person should be fired for sheer ignorance. Hoping that this would step him up, sure. But this was a high concept movie with two mid-range (read: liked, but no opening assurances) stars and they sold the wrong concept for most of the lead up to this weekend. The ad campaign seemed to shift in the last few days and we saw Leslie Mann on the toilet for the first time. Had they rolled out the “See why Roger Ebert hates it!” campaign earlier, I think we’d be looking at a better opening… and it still wouldn’t be on Reynolds. (I also love that the best opening of his career, Green Lantern, is his career death. Petty ass covering of her studio bosses by Ms. Information.)

Okay… so I was saying…

Also worth noting, as #6, you can see audience fatigue growing. Bridesmaids opened surprisingly well and then Hangover II did expected monster biz. Then $32m for Bad Teacher, $28m for Horrible Bosses, and $19m for Friends With Benefits. Now, Change-Up will open the worst of the 6.

Obviously, each film has its marketing issues, pro or con, and its word of mouth. Horrible Bosses opened $3.3m less strong than Teacher, but will outgross it by a good margin domestically. But it is a trend line. And Sony has to be praying that the hip 30 Minutes or Less will break the trend next weekend… because the idea is for Ruben Fleisher to go up from his $25m Zombieland opening, not down. However, that Oct 2, 2009 Zombie launch had the benefit of being the only film within genre shooting range. Jennifer’s Body, which was similar in tone, was a bomb and had come and gone 2 weeks earlier. So not only was it well marketed, a clear pitch, and benefiting from a strong cast profile, it owned tweeners for weeks before and after. (Another hopeful, Whip It, got run over by the Emma Stone energy in Z-Land, which drew surprisingly strong grrrrl interest.)

What else?

The Smurfs have put Cowboys & Aliens in their rear view domestically. The international battle will be interesting too, though I would have to put the long money on the Belgians. Decent hold for Crazy Stupid Love (which like Monique, I will no longer be trying to figure out the typography for). Word of mouth I have been hearing has been extreme, both positive and negative. Odd. And Horrible Bosses passed $100m on Thursday.

Bellflower is the story of the indie box office weekend. Whatever they did to generate that kind of buzz, other indies should be emulating… even if, as I fear, Klady’s typing got a “0” too ambitious.

And The Whistleblower deserves more attention. It’s a tough subject, but it’s a very strong movie with a truly great performance by Rachel Weisz and others (more the Euro-actors you don’t know than the solid, but not too special cameos by great actors.)

29 Weeks To Oscar

It’s that time again. The horses are being walked to the gate. The jockeys, trainers, and reporters are talking strategy. In a few weeks, the race will start… and just 6 short months later, someone will win.

Oy.

The Full Column

And My First Chart Of The Season

Another Day. Another Suit.

DP/30: Chasing Madoff, subject Harry Markopolos (pt 1& 2)

Harry has a lot to say… and almost all of it will make you think about how perceive the power balance of the world economy. An hour-plus well spent.

Brett Ratner: Oscar Producer

Oy.

Someone mentioned that he wanted the job a year or two ago and I laughed out loud. Impossible.

I was wrong.

And I would love to be wrong about how desperate and sad this choice is. Ratner’s made money… but he has never made a film that really rates an invitation to attend the Oscars, much less to be a nominee. Condon had. Bruce Cohen had. Bill Mechanic had.

The Academy has become like your grandparents, trying to be hip by buying you a really expensive Walkman… today.

What possible argument can The Academy make that this is a good idea? It’s not like they can’t get celebrities to show up. It’s not like he’d ever produced live television before. It’s not like his work has shown a great and abiding passion for the magic of the movies.

He always seems like a nice enough guy. He manages up as well as any human alive. But this job is a lot like him coming in as a last minute replacement on X-Men 3. There’s not very much room to maneuver. So the shows end up being defined by the 20% of so that the show’s producer really control. One hopes for passionate inspiration in those moments. But you know, The Academy has had photo booths backstage for a couple of years already. What else do we see coming from Brett Ratner.

Last year, we saw a reach for something cool with young hosts that was a bust. Does Ratner know someone we don’t? I tweeted earlier today that it would be Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller… which is unlikely. But Stiller and Vince Vaughn and Salma Hayek? Maybe.

Worst of all for The Academy, Ratner will be the butt of jokes from now until the the show ends next February… and we’ll wait for the EXCLUSIVE about him not producing again.

You know, when I was a child, I worked on a TV show and last minute guest hosts were booked… and everyone on the show HATED the idea because they assumed the pair were showbiz hacks. Turned out to be one of the best shows of the season because the new guests were game and were slick professionals. One never knows.

I pray that Ratner stays cool and collected and understated and shocks the hell out of everyone… even if everyone is not going to include an expanded audience because the director of Rush Hour is producing the show.

I guess I understand why they want to find some youth to change an aging show. How many times did JJ Abrams and Judd Apatow say “no” before they went to Ratner?

Man Of Steel – Does It Suit You?

Kinda reminds me of…

6 Weeks To TIFF: a 20 weeks to oscar prequel (part 3 of 3)

In my third TIFF preview (1. High-Profile/No Awards & 2. Awards Chasers W/O US Distribution), the pay-off… the films with US distribution in place and an interest in getting into the awards mix. This is the group where Oscars bloom.

But first… here are some titles that have to be downgraded because they are – so far – avoiding TIFF ’11.

Let me explain myself. TIFF is now, by far, the biggest media festival in North America as well as the most influential media event in terms of United States distribution. If you take a film to Cannes, it’s great for Europe, but unless you have very low ambitions, you really have to totally relaunch for America. The New York Film Festival is wonderful… if you are only interested in Manhattan… cause that’s all the coverage you’re going to get.. and even then, no one much cares about anything other than The Times.

So… if you have Marilyn (née My Week With Marilyn) and you are choosing to World Premiere as the centerpiece at NY, congrats, but you’ve pretty much marked the picture as “Michelle Williams’ performance only.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

As for Focus’ Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy, one has to wonder what they are thinking… unless what they are thinking is that it’s not really a Best Picture movie in spite of early buzz. Nine award seasons into their existence, they’ve had a film in the Best Picture race a remarkable seven times. The only titles that opened in the fall that didn’t go to TIFF were Milk and The Pianist, both of which skipped the domestic festival circuit entirely. The Pianist premiered at Cannes and was picked up there by Focus. It didn’t play in the US until it premiered in December of the same year. But Lost In Translation, Brokeback Mountain, Atonement, A Serious Man… all at TIFF.

Carnage takes the opening night slot, which precludes it from TIFF, even after it plays at Venice. You may well get a “surprise” screening at Telluride. But unlike The Social Network, which started its road to losing Best Picture by choosing the snotty path instead of just letting a fairly mainstream picture do its job on the broadest possible audiences, this adaptation of the Broadway smash “God of Carnage” (saw it twice) is not an inherently big movie. If it has a comparative relationship with an Oscar movie, it’s American Beauty… which launched at TIFF. NY doesn’t advance its cause to get past the art house circuit. A wave of love at TIFF would.

The only exception to these suspicions is Clint Eastwood, who may well have the Closing Night of NYFF with J. Edgar, then release the film Nov 9, and get away with it. He’s Clint F-ing Eastwood, man.

The other kind of exception are films that may be ready to viewing in September, but which are focusing on their release platform and not on the festival roll-out. Jason Reitman’s Young Adult is such a film. There was some consensus that Up In the Air may have shot its awards load early, jumping to the front of the pack at TIFF ’09. Not this time. Spielberg, who is also in the Eastwood category (which means that any first screening date is of the highest profile), has War Horse pretty much locked and loaded. But I don’t expect them to show it until November. Tintin opens Europe in October, but there is no rush to get it to TIFF or anywhere else before its domestic commercial launch in December. Same with Scorsese’s Hugo. (Neither Tintin or Hugo are awards-forward movies. If a wave comes, they will try to ride it. But the plan is to open the movies first, worry about awards later.)

Also not going to TIFF, most likely because they just aren’t ready are the new Fincher, the new Crowe (though he does have a concert film there), and Daldry’s December-dated Bullock/Hanks starrer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

And then there are titles that it’s nearly impossible to gauge. Film District has Johnny Depp in The Rum Diary, scheduled for the end of October… and nowhere to be seen. Not a good sign, but keeping it commercial if it’s more arty could be the reality for the distributor. Meanwhile, The Weinsteins might feel the need to take their time on The Iron Lady before rolling it out there. (Release date: 12/16).

And now… the list of Oscar-bait movies that do have distribution, release dates, and potential…

Albert Nobbs, director Rodrigo García – Roadside Attractions

Every time there is a new Rodrigo Garcia film featuring parades of the world’s greatest actresses, there is a lot of Oscar buzz. And so far… lots of Indie Spirit and no Oscar nominations.

This film takes a new tack. Garcia veteran Glenn Close passes as a man in this period drama. Cool. Excellent actress. Happy if it’s special. My guess is that Roadside will be happy if Glenn gets the only nod and pushes for screenplay on the side. (Release, TBA)

The Artist, director Michael Hazanavicius – The Weinstein Company

A sensation at Cannes, this black + white period comedy about the coming of talkies features the biggest comedy star in France, Jean Dujardin, the writer/director of some of his biggest hits, and their shared leading lady (Bérénice Bejo, who met and paired with Hazanavicius as the co-star of OSS 117: Nest Of Spies). My point is, this trio isn’t new. They are tested pros who have had nothing other than success. So the breakout of this film as “more than another Dujardin comedy” shouldn’t shock. In fact, the best money Harvey Weinstein could spend on the Oscar push would be to put the two OSS 117 films back on LA and NY screens now… maybe a few shows a week… and give voters access to the very enjoyable, smart precursors.

I don’t think it would be unfair to characterize Dujardin as the best comic actor working in movies today. He’s shown a lot of range and while he plays dumb as well as anyone, you can see a fierce instinctual intelligence underneath, making choices.

This film will be relatively low profile at TIFF, even with Cannes-conscious media keeping it on their Must lists. But it’s exactly the kind of film that ends up leaving Toronto as the answer to many people’s “What did you love at TIFF?” queries. The trick for TWC, starting at TIFF, will not to allow it to be relegated to, “It was great fun… but not weighty enough for Oscar” status.

I haven’t seen the film, so I don’t know how the film might acquit itself in that way… but I am a big fan of the team and have been since seeing OSS 117 at Seattle and spending a lunch with a jet-lagged Hazanavicius and Bejo. I’m rooting for them. (Release, Nov 23)

Coriolanus, director Ralph Fiennes – The Weinstein Company

It’s been 42 years since a Shakespeare-based film has been nominated for Best Picture… unless you count Shakespeare in Love. There have been some great Big Willie films in that time, from Branagh’s Henry V to McKellan’s Richard III to Zefferelli’s Gibson Hamlet. No BP noms.

There have been some acting noms and that’s what people will be mostly hoping for here. Fiennes, Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox, and Jessica Chastain will all get attention. But there is also a secret weapon…Gerard Butler… who could make this challenging Shakespeare play into a commercial movie, if Fiennes has found a tone than makes the Bard more accessible. (Release, Dec 2)

A Dangerous Method, director David Cronenberg – Sony Pictures Classics

The intellectual’s version of X-Men: First Contact teams Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen as Jung & Freud, with Keira Knightley as the patient in the middle and Vincent Cassel to boot. Cronenberg took longer between films than usual this time, but he might have the Oscar formula this time. A real boom or bust movie… but signs are pointing to boom. (Release, TBA)

The Descendants, director Alexander Payne – Fox Searchlight

Another looong wait between pictures, Payne returns without Jim Taylor and with George Clooney. The story, based on the Kaui Hart Hemmings novel, has Clooney trying to reconnect with his daughters after their mother dies in an accident. As is Payne’s way, he’s in for some lessons about living along the way.

At ClooneyFest 2011, there is hope that both of his films as an actor will emerge as serious contenders for Best Picture slots. The last time Payne brought a film to TIFF, it came in as a major underdog – even on the Searchlight calendar – to being their key awards movie. Thanks to George, the oven is set to High from the start, not unlike Payne’s About Schmidt, which launched at Cannes, leapt to NYFF, and then to a December release… and ending up with 2 acting nods and zippo for picture, directing, or screenplay. Changing up! (Release, Nov 23)

The Ides of March, director George Clooney – Columbia Pictures

ClooneyFest continues, this time behind and in front of the camera. But as with Good NIght, And Good Luck, Clooney has another actor in the lead, Ryan Gosling, and a beyond-muscular supporting cast of himself, Phil Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei., Evan Rachel Wood, and Jeffrey Wright.

The timing couldn’t be better. It’s not election year, when everyone will be oversaturated with these issues. It’s months after the Debt Debate, which means that people are thinking seriously about political issues, but won’t be sick of thinking about it when this lands. All we need now is the film. (Release, Oct 7)

Moneyball, director Bennett Miller – Columbia Pictures

Speaking of Sony, the film that would be Social Network is at the festival with Brad Pitt, Phil Hoffman, and Jonah Hill in the follow-up film from Bennett Miller, another Oscar nominated director who went 6 years between movies. (A 9 year break is coming to this list soon.) Oscar-winner Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay. And while many of us objected to its unhappy inception – Soderbergh gets backdoored – the return of Bennett is welcome.

The big questions are, is this a chance for Pitt to get his third acting nomination… does Hoffman get nominated for this or the Clooney movie or both… and is this a career-changer for Jonah Hill. One more question (the biggest, really) is, “Why is Sony releasing this film 2 weeks before The Ides of March?” They would seem to speak to a similar adult audience looking for intelligent content. Do they have little faith in this one? Are they risking a crowded house in early October? Three weeks after Ides, they launch Roland Emmerich’s prayer for being taken seriously, Anonymous, which is also at TIFF>. IS this all just laying down a path for December’s barn burner The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo? (Release, Sept 23)

Take Shelter, director Jeff Nichols – Sony Pictures Classics

Nichols is one of the hottest young artist/directors in the business right now, after breaking out with Shotgun Stories. He’s once again working with Michael Shannon, who continues to gain new fans with every project he does. Add Jessica Chastain and Shea Whigham (almost unrecognizable from role to role) and a cast of great actors and you have the movie that took Sundance by storm in January.

Oscar nominations from Nichols (as screenwriter) and Shannon would not be shocking.  (Release, Sept 30)

We Need To Talk About Kevin, director Lynne Ramsey – Oscilloscope Laboratories

Tilda Swinton is the difference between this film getting an aggressive push by Oscilloscope and an Anchor Bay pre-DVD push (see: Beautiful Boy). And that ain’t a small thing. Of all the films listed here, it is the least likely to turn into a Best Picture candidate because material like this – Ramsey’s specialty – scares the crap out of people. But people will want to see what this is about, people who care about art will want to see what Ramsey is up to, and most of the media will want an audience with Tilda, if only for her to be painted as a symbol or artistic virtue. (Release, Dec 2)

Review-ish: Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

The film works.

I almost want to stop there.

The thing is, the film is not what you are probably expecting from the ads. It has action – lots of it – but it’s not an action movie. It has apes becoming as intelligent or more intelligent in some cases than humans, but it’s not that movie either.

Really, the movie is a social drama that could practically have been written by John Osborne or Robert Bolt. In a weird way, it’s closer to The Help than like Transformers on the summer spectrum.

It’s not really a reboot or a rethink on the material. But it is a film of this time, not the late 60s when the classic Apes was conceived. In the original, Charlton Heston stood in for black people in the civil rights movement. The Apes – aka Us – were so involved in maintaining the status quo that only the high minded ever even considered the discrimination. The issue was forced when a pre-devolution human arrives in their world. We should know better than to consider anyone a second class life form.

Here, we are still Us. The Apes are still limited. And thus starts a complex journey that leaves the audience rooting for its own demise.

The achievement of drawing the audience in to rooting for a species that is not our species – with some broad caricatures at times, but mostly with normal humans doing not-always-good things – is remarkable. There is a coda, about 60 seconds into credits, that audiences will love… against all human logic. But we are that connected to the movie, outside of our own heads. Which is great.

Franco is fine. Frieda Pinto’s only time off of being The Girl is when she turns into Basilina Exposition for a moment here or there. I didn’t know who played Franco’s dad, so I won’t tell you. But good. Brian Cox doesn’t get to do much. Tom Felton makes a good asshole. David Oyelowo looks good in a suit.

But this is really Andy Serkis’ movie. More so than as Kong or Gollum, he is doing a full pantomime performance… a much wider range of emotions and concepts to grasp through his digital eyes than Kong attempted. And it is a triumph for the digital artists who are well onto the right side of the suspension of disbelief line. Yes, you may be conscious that you are looking at digital animals at times. But more intellectually than emotionally. And with movies, that’s what matters.

They are also very smart about context in this film. They don’t overreach and yet the consequences of individual actions are still felt and feel like they will reverberate widely. Spartacus wasn’t about all the slaves… but it was. Same idea here.

It’s not the best movie of the season for me… but it’s definitely in the top third. And best of all – for me, if not for opening weekend – it came as a complete surprise. That tends to get a good film overrated. And it might here. But it’s a very good genre film. Very good indeed.

DP/30: Life In A Day, director Kevin MacDonald, editor Joe Walker

6 Weeks To TIFF: a 20 weeks to oscar prequel (part 2 of 3)

Yesterday, the TIFF roll-out started with titles that will be high-profile at TIFF ’11, but are not potential Oscar-race late entries. Today, 10 titles that are currently without US distribution partners, but could end up not only getting released in 2011, but could be players in the race, either in Best Picture (less likely) or any of the acting or writing categories (much more likely).

Of course, all or any of them could end up stinking. And such is the fun of the TIFF shake-out.

(in alphabetical order)

360, director Fernando Meirelles

Meirelles remains on of the most interesting directors working. This film seems to be a drama with strong sexual themes. Written by Peter Morgan and starring Rachel Weisz and Jude Law – famously paired in Enemy At The Gates – as well as Anthony Hopkins and Ben Foster… all Oscar bait talent. (Forster is the only one never nominated… but has been buzzed repeatedly in recent years.) The script is based on an Arthur Schnitzler’s classic play, La Ronde, which pairs up couples then follows one member of each pairing to the next pairing. (Anything Schnitzler may scare some after Eyes Wide Shut.) Meirelles and Morgan’s version follows lovers through Paris, London, Bratislava, Rio, Denver and Phoenix.

The Deep Blue Sea, director Terence Davies

Another Rachel Weisz performance, more sexual intrigue, and another classic play as the basis, this time Terrence Rattigan’s 1952 play of the same title, which premiered with no less than Dame Peggy Ashcroft in the role Weisz plays in the film. Here, the lead character is paired with Tom Hiddleston (also in two Oscar bait film: Midnight In Paris & War Horse… as well as Thor) as the lover and Simon Russell Beale (one of England’s most acclaimed stage actors) as the spurned husband.

It’s been 11 years since Davies made a feature and this film marks the 100th birthday of the deceased playwright. Will it be this year’s End of The Affair or Far From Heaven? We’ll soon see.

Eye of the Storm, director Fred Schepisi

Schepisi, whose work ranges from The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith to Roxanne to the dingo what ate Meryl’s baby, brought Last Orders to TIFF in 2000 and drew a lot of attention with an all-star cast of great character actors (including pre-Queen Mirren, Caine, Hoskins, Winstone, Courtenay, and a lovely return and farewell (he passed a couple years later, adding another dozen performances, but none of this level) by David Hemmings. But Sony Classics just couldn’t find an audience for the film.

His return to TIFF, 10 years later, shows a lot of promise. Charlotte Rampling is The Matriarch who has decided it’s time to die and Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis are her “kids,” who want their piece of the family fortune. It’s based on a novel by Patrick White, the only Aussie who ever won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Here is the trailer and a chat from the film’s premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival.

Killer Joe, director William Friedkin

This is Friedkin’s second film of a Tracy Letts play. Since Bug, which got a bit lost because of its hard-to-market tone, Letts picked up a Pulitzer for the play, August: Osage, County. This time, things should be clearer for the marketing team, whoever it ends up being. Adapted by Letts from his first play, Matthew McConaughey is right in his sweet spot as a southern, smooth tough guy… the title character. Emile Hirsch is parented by Thomas Haden Church and Gina Gershon, who all plan a murder for which they want to hire Killer Joe. One of Sundance 2010’s IT girls, Juno Temple, plays the sister/daughter/bait.

Could Matthew McConaughey follow his pal Sandra Bullock to an unexpected Oscar slot?

The big problem here could be the level of sex and violence, which could turn on audiences and turn off Academy voters. But well only really know once we’ve seen the film.

The Lady , director Luc Besson

In the last dozen years, Luc Besson has become one of the most successful movie producers in the world… and a bit of an afterthought as a director. Since The Messenger in 1999, he’s only really directed one movie for adults, Angel-A, which barely got released in 2005. Since then, he’s built his empire, and focused his directing time on three Arthur & The Invisibles films and just last year, another comic book film, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec .

The Lady looks like a real movie. The true life story of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who led her political party to victory in 1990 while under house arrest… a house arrest that went on for almost 15 years. Michelle Yeoh, almost unrecognizable, takes on the dramatic role.

Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding, director Bruce Beresford

This one smells of an Oscar role for Jane Fonda, who plays a hippie grandmother to Sundance co-IT girl Lizzie OIsen and Chace Crawford, and mom to a conservative Catherine Keener (who has to melt, right… but who wouldn’t want to watch her do it?).

It’s one of those movies that seems so obvious an opportunity for quality fun that will do excellent indie business that it’s a little scary that its heading to TIFF without distribution.

Rampart, director Oren Moverman

Just two years ago, after a lot of fighting to get the film out there by Oscilloscope Laboratories, Moverman’s film The Messenger (no relation to Besson’s) picked up two Oscar nominations, for screenplay and for Woody Harrelson. The duo returns with this story set in the real life tale of the corrupt Rampart police division in Los Angeles.

The cast is a killer, including Ben Foster, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Buscemi, and Robin Wright. The screenwriter is no one less than James Ellroy.

So why isn’t there a distributor? Maybe Harsh Times, the terrific little film with Christian Bale that went no where in a hurry a half-dozen years ago. But that film was tied up in a messy marriage of a new producer, a flailing distributor, etc.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, director Lasse Haalstrom

This one feels a bit like we have seen it before. Chocolat meets The Cider House Rules? Ewan McGregor is the scientist who is tasked with bringing salmon fishing to Yemen. Emily Blunt & Kristin Scott Thomas ensue.

Like any cliche, there is a reason why certain ideas become cliche. When they click, we LOVE them. (Well, audiences love them.) So what will this one be? Will is be sparkling or flat? Unlike an LA lunch, one option is definitively better than the other.

Shame, director Steve McQueen

McQueen’s first film was a masterpiece. Painful to experience, but really, masterpiece.

Who knows whether his second time out will be as difficult, but we do know that there is a theme of incest in the mix. Two of the world’s hottest young actors, Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan star.

I expect it to be tough. But Fassbender has been a superstar in wait, in terms of the US, and he gets to roll out the charismatic and the dramatic in this role. Mulligan is a consummate actress who got love for her sweet side and is apparently ready to take audiences somewhere darker. Audiences ran away from that in Never Let Me Go, which for me is easily her film best work to date… it just wasn’t charming.

I am not so surprised that distributors are scared to death of this film. But I am expecting greatness. I hope I’m not hoping for too much.

Take This Waltz – director Sarah Polley

It’s been 5 years between Sarah Polley movies. A lot of people have been waiting.

This time, her players are closer to her own age. Michelle Williams is the married woman who finds herself falling in love with another man. Seth Rogan and Sarah Silverman, seem (having not seen the film) to be stretching past their normally broad comic roles.

It will be nice to see Michelle Williams without the entire weight of the world on her shoulders… not that there won’t be drama.

The film seems to take its title from the Leonard Cohen song of the same name.

Of course, Moviefone went right for what they consider the most important story… Sarah Silverman telling them she’d be nude in the film. They quote her saying the same thing TWICE in this story. Apparently editors don’t work well with one hand on the keyboard. They’ll fit in well with HuffPo.

The film has, it seems, been offered around. Does that mean it’s not good, that taste levels are low, or that pricing for indie films is so rough these days that the best hope is to get some heat from Polley’s home country uberfest?

Kunis Defends Her Movie Man… In Russian

And thanks to Gawker for the SEO tip… steal the video off of YouTube, then put it in your own unembedable viewer so you increase page views… scumbag genius!