 Could ‘The Descendants‘ really be one of the biggest Oscar contenders of the year, or will it just be about Clooney’s performance? Take a look at this new trailer and see for yourself:
Read more on Trailer #2: “The Descendants”…
 Woody Harrelson shines in co-writer/director Oren Moverman’s sometimes uneven but always compelling police drama ‘Rampart’. Harrelson is absolutely phenomenal playing an old school member of the Los Angeles Police Department during a time when the tide is changing and people like him are a thing of the past. Moverman has improved as a director since his good but not great directorial debut “The Messenger”(which scored Harrelson a Supporting Actor nod, in addition to Moverman getting nominated for Best Original Screenplay), and that goes a long way towards giving this film a distinct look and feel. His writing is still somewhat divisive, but I give him credit for not making boring films. He certainly knows how to direct Harrelson, as he gets an Oscar worthy performance out of him here. At its core, this is a character study of a flawed individual and his struggles against himself. Not unlike ‘The Wrestler’, it’s a warts and all look at a relic from the past. It suffers from an occasional lack of focus and a tendency to shortchange other interesting characters in favor of its protagonist., but overall it’s a pretty good flick and a fine awards vehicle for Harrelson and Moverman.
Read more on Rampart (***)…
 This week, one of the best films of the year comes to Blu-Ray and DVD, along with a host of other, less worthy fare. It’s another instance of lots of quantity, but less in the way of quality. I’m hardly complaining, since there are a few solid choices this week, but only one really screams brilliance. That particular title is going to be my obvious top choice, and it’s a great one at that. Well, enough foreplay. My choice for the PICK OF THE WEEK is a flick I’ve been trumpeting since I first saw it back in March at its world premiere in New York at Radio City Music Hall. It’s one of the most unique films of the year as well, not that you haven’t heard me say it a dozen times already since March. It’s:
Red State
Kevin Smith wowed me with this hybrid action/horror/satire/thriller about the dangers of any type of fundamentalism. He gets career best work from Michael Parks and top 5 work from John Goodman, not to mention strong turns from Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner, and Melissa Leo. It’s a wonderfully dark and gritty ensemble piece with Smith returning full force to his indie roots. I’ve spoken about this flick for months now, so there isn’t much left to say except this: don’t miss it. It’s one of the 5 favorite films of 2011 so far.
Read more on Joey’s DVD Picks of the Week (10/18/2011)…
 Tonight on Dancing with the Stars it was 80s night. The stars danced the Tango, Jive, Rumba, Samba and Foxtrot to music from this nights decade. Tonight the dances lacked excitement and anybody can be going home Tuesday night. But before I announce who I feel will be the next star voted off, let’s review.
Read more on Dancing with the Stars: Week 5…
Provocative, graphic, and intense, "Leap Year" is a bold film…
Directed by newcomer Michael Rowe, “Leap Year” is a challenging film and defiantly uneasy to watch. And yet as provocative and wincing as it may be, it is undeniably impressive all the same. Rowe delivers a bold and audacious first film which arrived to art-house theaters in the Summer of 2011, fresh from winning the 2010 Camera D’or prize at the Cannes Film Festival; a prize given to the best new filmmaker of the Festival.
Fearlessness lies at the heart of “Leap Year” both in the story depicted on screen and the textured approach to telling that story. Monica del Carmen, who had a small part in the Oscar-nominated “Babel”, leaves everything on screen here as Laura Lopez, a freelance journalist who lives in a tiny, rundown one-bedroom house and is desperate for a man to be in her life. The initial impression we have is that Laura is lonely and is hoping that her succession of one-night stands will turn into something more. Soon, however, we learn that she is seeking a companion for a completely unforeseeable reason and Laura’s peculiar fixation on the date of February 29 plays a key role in finding the right man to satiate her desires and perhaps deliver something more shocking.
I’ll not say much more.
Read more on Leap Year (Año bisiesto) (***)…
 Back when auditions were going on for David Fincher’s remake of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ were going on, lots of compelling names were thrown out there. 3 in particular struck me as strong choices. They were Katie Jarvis of ‘Fishtank’ fame, Rooney Mara (who obviously won the job), and Scarlett Johansson. I’m a big Johansson fan, and thought she might have turned her career back around with this gig. Apparently Fincher thought she had the goods too, but ultimately didn’t choose her for a rather interesting reason. Vogue Magazine has a nice write up on the upcoming film and Fincher’s work with Mara, but buried within this article is Fincher explaining why Scarlett isn’t his Lisbeth Salander. Here’s the few paragraphs that tell this particular story:
To tell the story of how Rooney Mara landed the role of Lisbeth Salander, one must go back to David Fincher’s last film, The Social Network. That movie, as you may recall, opens with five minutes and 22 seconds of blistering dialogue between Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) and his fictional college girlfriend, Mara’s Erica Albright, on a relationship-ending date in a pub. “I remember the feeling that I needed a foil for Jesse and his intense inability to see other people,” says Fincher. “I needed somebody about whom the audience could go, ‘Dude! She’s right there!’ ” Radiating intelligence and self-possession, Mara was a natural for the part.
Then, as Fincher was putting the finishing touches on the film, he started casting Dragon Tattoo. “I had seen a lot of actresses,” he says. “I was beginning to get to the point where I was thinking, Maybe conceptually you are talking about a person who doesn’t exist.” One day his casting director said, “What about Rooney?” He resisted at first. “I believe in casting people whose core—that essential personality you can’t beat out of them with a tire iron—has to work for the character.” He needed someone who was dissociated, antisocial—the exact opposite of Erica Albright. But when he saw Mara’s audition, he was “struck by how different it was from what I felt I already knew about her.”
Read more on Fincher explains why Johansson isn’t his Girl with the Dragon Tattoo…
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Could ‘The Descendants‘ really be one of the biggest Oscar contenders of the year, or will it just be about Clooney’s performance? Take a look at this new trailer and see for yourself:
