 Seeking a Friend for the End of the World marks Lorene Scafaria’s directorial debut following her well-received screenplay of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. There is definitely a feeling of new territory being paved when watching this particular apocalyptic dramedy, and this can only come from a director who doesn’t mind taking risks or making a bold statement as a means of introduction. Not everything is a surefire hit in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, but there are enough colorful and fruitful moments that will have you nodding your head in approval with regards to Scafaria’s recent filmmaker status. Despite two leads who are potentially very miscast, there’s a whole lot of fun to be had in this film if you chuck aside your expectations for an apocalyptic movie and just enjoy the carefree nature that surrounds a topic that doesn’t seem humor-filled, but somehow is. Read more on Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (***)…
Director Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice) re-teams with Keira Knightley in a new telling of the classic Leo Tolstoy novel, Anna Karenina. The rest of the cast includes Jude Law, Aaron Johnson, Kelly MacDonald, Olivia Williams, Ruth Wilson and Holliday Grainger.
Is it me, or does Aaron Johnson seem horribly miscast in this role? It’s hard to tell from the trailer, but I have early suspicions. Other than that, it certainly has the look and feel of a contender, especially in several below the line categories like Costume Design, Art Direction, and Cinematography. But will this be the performance to earn Ms. Knightley her first Academy Award?
Anna Karenina opens in the U.K. on September 7th and in the U.S. on November 9th. Check out the trailer and the poster for the film after the jump…
Read more on First Trailer and Poster for ‘Anna Karenina’…
 Anyone who knows me by now, knows that how I much I absolutely LOVE Monster’s Inc., as it was my #2 film of 2001. While my excitement is parked cautiously on the follow-up prequel, Monster’s University, I remember great films like Toy Story have only gotten better with each and every movie. Disney/Pixar has released FOUR different teaser trailers that are all for view below. Read more on Disney/Pixar’s Monster’s University Teaser Trailer(s) Debut!…
 The first major Academy Award™ contender is officially upon us with Benh Zeitlin’s hypnotically spellbinding Beasts of the Southern Wild. The hype for this film has been building following the huge responses it received from the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals, so anything less than what we’ve heard to be true would be one massive letdown. I’m not one who buys into hype or goes into a film screening expecting certain emotions to be attained — I simply come at each film as if it’s one untouched, pure and innocent child that I see grow before my eyes. This is why I tend to avoid trailers and plot synopses before checking out a movie. For me, a film’s beauty lies in its organic unfolding, letting your eyes and your mind reap all that is streaming before you, completely unfiltered and without taint. I am very thankful I stuck to my guns before watching Beasts of the Southern Wild. The less you know, the greater you’ll appreciate. I’ll even take it a step further: this is one of those masterpieces that hits you so hard and so fast, it’s nearly impossible to control the urge to immediately re-watch the film. Brimming with speed, ferocity, and performances that will make your eyes turn into miniscule waterfalls, Beasts of the Southern Wild has the potential to take the globe by storm in the same all-encompassing manner as Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire. It’s just that powerful. Read more on Beasts of the Southern Wild (****)…
Awards Circuit Presents: 30 Days of Batman
It’s sort of hard to imagine now, what with The Avengers having demolished seemingly every box office record in existence, but prior to the New Millennium, comic book superhero movies were not the ubiquitous Hollywood staples that they have become today. In fact, prior to Bryan Singer’s X-Men kicking off the entire craze and even for a few years after, studio honchos were rather unsure of how to go about bringing even the most iconic superheroes to the big screen. Of course times are much different now; especially since 2008, when the two watershed films Iron Man and The Dark Knight became the go-to templates for seemingly the entire genre (“dark and aggressive” or “humorous popcorn romp”). While I very much enjoyed both of those films, I now have to concede that they were the ones that really snowballed the superhero genre into their current state of artistic predictability that make me sick of the whole thing now. Read more on Historical Circuit: Batman Returns (**½)…
 Seeing Nicolas Cage’s name in the cast of a film these days isn’t exactly the surest sign of quality, unfortunately. As someone who adored his heartbreaking (and Oscar winning) work in ‘Leaving Las Vegas’, I long for the days when Cage in a movie could excite me. Well, I was very nearly surprised by his latest flick ‘Seeking Justice’, which just hit DVD after a very brief theatrical run earlier this year (as previously mentioned in my DVD column earlier this week, I chose to give it the full review treatment now, as you can see). For about half the running time, this is a tight and solidly made action flick with some interesting ideas. Things go very awry in the 3rd act, but I wasn’t left with a bad taste in my mouth. This is more than just a re-imagining of ‘Death Wish’, instead focusing on a different side of vigilante justice than that franchise (and films like ‘The Brave One’) did. The acting by Cage is a step up from his usual phoned in performances, and the rest of the cast is trying a bit harder than usual too. Director Roger Donaldson keeps things moving, and if the script from Todd Hickey and Robert Tannen ultimately fails the movie, it still managed to be better than I was expecting. My guess is you’ll be surprised as well…
Read more on Seeking Justice (**½)…
Yesterday, I was driving down Olympic Blvd. like the Mad Hatter, honking at cars and getting very frustrated with the midday traffic, scared I would not make my first showing of the day on schedule. For whatever reason, the Gods smiled favorably on me and I somehow managed to show up in the nick of time. Yesterday was more of a slow day for the festival overall — there were no major Gala screenings and the regular films were shown later in the evening — but the crowds all showed up in their usual fervor. I find it hilarious how everyone rolls in at once, right at the last minute — I guess we cannot help but be a society full of procrastinators, totally pushing back time until it slaps us in the face to wake the hell up! This is the story of my life, especially my college years. Alas, I shall leave the past behind (well, not really because we are after all speaking about yesterday’s events) and jump right into my day… Read more on Los Angeles Film Festival Diaries: Day Five…
 I may not be among a huge group of people, but I’m someone who’s actually excited for Marc Webb’s upcoming reboot of the Spider-Man franchise next month. I liked what I saw earlier in the year, and the rumors I’d been hearing were encouraging as well. Critics in England however, have actually seen the movie, and some have put out their early reviews already. You can get a sense of some of them after the jump, but they’re mostly on the positive side. It looks like Andrew Garfield at the very least is a success story. Read on below for more…
Read more on The first reviews for ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ are in!…
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Seeking a Friend for the End of the World marks Lorene Scafaria’s directorial debut following her well-received screenplay of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. There is definitely a feeling of new territory being paved when watching this particular apocalyptic dramedy, and this can only come from a director who doesn’t mind taking risks or making a bold statement as a means of introduction. Not everything is a surefire hit in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, but there are enough colorful and fruitful moments that will have you nodding your head in approval with regards to Scafaria’s recent filmmaker status. Despite two leads who are potentially very miscast, there’s a whole lot of fun to be had in this film if you chuck aside your expectations for an apocalyptic movie and just enjoy the carefree nature that surrounds a topic that doesn’t seem humor-filled, but somehow is. Read more on Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (***)…
