It’s no secret that Terrence Malick is a filmmaker who isn’t for everyone, but up until now it’s always seemed like his movies have at least been for someone. With To the Wonderhowever, this seems like the type of film he made for him and him alone, resulting in absolutely no enjoyment for the viewer. One only has to look at the scowl on star Ben Affleck’s face throughout most of the film to see how painful an experience Malick’s latest is to experience. That’s about the type of look that I had on while watching the flick. Read more on To the Wonder (*½)…
Terence Malick’s latest film, To the Wonder, played at the Venice and Toronto film festivals this year, and now we are finally getting a look at this first beautiful trailer. The film, as it seems to be with all Malick’s movies, looks stunning, thanks in large part to the great Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography. The early reviews have been divisive, which is also a commonality with Malick films. To the Wonder stars Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams, and Olga Kurylenko, and opens in the US on April 12th.
Today brought a trio of very interesting films (2 Main Slate selections and a Midnight Movies sidebar), and even if they were of varying degrees of quality, they still all had something to offer an audience. The slate consisted of Brian DePalma’s “Passion,” Barry Levinson’s “The Bay,” and the documentary by Marina Zenovich “Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out,” a follow-up/sequel to her prior documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008). DePalma was also scheduled for a press conference following the screening but didn’t make it to the Walter Reade Theater. Through the magic of Skype, however, we got to talk with Zenovich about her documentary. Overall, today was a better day in terms of my thoughts on the movies, but the fest is still early. The rest of the week is jam packed as well, but for now, let’s get in to what I saw most recently at NYFF!
On this day where many of us are off either BBQ’ing or sleeping as late as possible, we are bringing you the weekly Awards Circuit Power Hour. A fun-themed show today, I’m joined by Terence, Joey, Mike, and Robert talking everything film. Also, don’t forget to rate us on iTunes and listen to us on Stitcher! The agenda is listed below: Read more on Awards Circuit Power Hour Episode 18: AMPAS Rule Change, Oscar Tech Talk, Affleck & Argo…
It’s no secret around these parts that Terrence Malick frustrated me more than he pleased me with ‘The Tree of Life’ last year, which basically has been the way his whole career has gone in my eyes (short of ‘Badlands’, which I love). However, I’ve been looking forward to seeing ‘To the Wonder’ more than I usual in regards to a Malick film, since it seemed like this could be the type of project to bring him back more to his roots. Apparently though, he’s taken the style of his last flick and run with it, leading to an even more mixed reaction at the Venice Film Festival this weekend than he had at Cannes last year. From adoring words to boos from the audience, there have been some lovers, but plenty of haters as well it seems. After the jump you can see a sampling of some of the early reactions, but in my humble opinion I think we can cross this one off as a major Oscar player. It’s not out of the hunt yet, but a Best Picture or Best Director win? Nope, that’s not happening. Read on below to find out why…
Brain De Palma has always been at his best when he embraces the campy, more far out elements of humanity and it looks like he’s returned to form if the new trailer Passion is any indication. Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace star in this remake of a French film called Love Crime, tells the story of a young businesswoman who plots murderous revenge after her boss and mentor steals her idea. Take a look at the steamy, seductive trailer after the jump!
With the big announcement yesterday of the titles that will be debuting/playing at the Toronto Film Festival, the first Plot Synopsis for Terrence Malick’s new film “To the Wonder” was revealed. The film stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, and Javier Bardem, and seems to be Malick’s most overt relationship drama in some time, though there are still rumblings that it’s also his most experimental one as well (which would actually be saying something). After the jump you can see the short summary of the picture, and it sets things up very nicely. I may not have been big on ‘The Tree of Life’ last year, but I recognize his talent, and this one has my attention in a big way. You can find the synopsis below.
Terrence Malick is as much an enigma as he is an auteur. Famous for going 30 years between films, the titles of his movies are often evocative of more than just the plot therein. Since we are poised to get back to back years of Malick films, it was only a matter of time before his newest one got a title. Filmratings.com broke the news that Malick has decided to name his latest film To the Wonder. The movie starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem, and Rachel Weisz, will center on “a man who reconnects with a woman from his hometown after his marriage to a European woman falls apart.” Read more on Malick’s latest film gets a new title and plot summary!…
It’s hard to explain just how bad ‘The Vow’ truly is without getting mean about it. I’ll do my best here, but no promises. In short…my god, I hope this winds up being the worst film of 2012, because if there’s something worse lurking out there for me, it’s going to be a painful experience. This is a romantic melodrama devoid of an embraceable romance, drama even a half step above the worst you see on daytime soap operas, and indifferent acting that shows that the performers have as much contempt for the production as you do. Now I like Rachel McAdams, and enjoyed ‘The Notebook’ more than I should admit, while perhaps being the most vocal fan of ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ in the entire critical community, but here she’s mediocre at best and annoying at worst. As for Channing Tatum, this is as bad as I’ve ever seen him. He usually does absolutely nothing for me, but this is worse. To be fair, I did like him in both ‘A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints’ and ‘Stop-Loss’ (and he’s been average on a few occasions besides those), so I know he’s capable of not stinking up the joint. That’s not the case here, and the odor coming from not just his performance but every single aspect of this movie is enough to make you dizzy. The only goal of this movie is to make you cry. It’s perhaps going to be effective in getting some audience members to sob during the most cloying scenes, but it’s wholly incapable of being a film of any quality whatsoever. This is the first lock for my Bottom 10 of 2012 list, and it’s a safe bet to assume it won’t be moving off of it anytime soon.
It’s no secret that Terrence Malick is a filmmaker who isn’t for everyone, but up until now it’s always seemed like his movies have at least been for someone. With To the Wonder however, this seems like the type of film he made for him and him alone, resulting in absolutely no enjoyment for the viewer. One only has to look at the scowl on star Ben Affleck’s face throughout most of the film to see how painful an experience Malick’s latest is to experience. That’s about the type of look that I had on while watching the flick. Read more on To the Wonder (*½)…
