The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The only thing I was curious about was why David Fincher would waste his considerable talents on such a vapid, saccharine script.

Hack Director Releases Awesome Publicity Photos

When you think of the movies of Tim Burton without remembering how much fun you had watching Beetlejuice on Saturday afternoons when you were 10, you start to realize that he's easily one of the most overrated directors working today. But, to his credit, he might be the greatest set (and costume?) designer of all time. So there's no surprise that the first publicity stills of next year's Alice and Wonderland are simply mouth-watering.

Normally I'd only sit through a Tim Burton movie to confirm how bad I thought it was going to be but these photos have me eerily looking forward to AIW.

Mad Hatter, Red Queen, White Queen

Trailer Issue Vol. 6

Moon - Space used to be the place filmmakers would go cookie-cutter reality limited them from exploring life's more metaphysical issues. But the non-actioner Sci-Fi film has gone the way of the western. Will Moon lead us back to space for the answers to our more existential questions? No, but it does look pretty good

Outrage - You can make a documentary making bold accusations based entirely on innuendo and rumor? Not that I mind, but how are they getting away with this?

Girlfriend Experience - The similarities to Soderbergh's Bubble are troubling (low-budget, improvised, hd-cam), but a closer suggests the Girlfriend Experience has a bit more to offer (Manhattan vs. Belpre, Ohio, Sasha Grey vs. Debbie Doebereiner)

Tetro - If you're a bonafide auteur like F.F. Coppola and your newest film gets denied to screen in competition at Cannes, that's not a positive sign. You'd think from the looks of this banging trailer that the selection committee passed because they're still upset at Francis for Godfather III.

Whatever Works - I saw that Larry David was starring in Woody Allen's new movie and I got excited. I saw that Woody was making his return to shooting in New York City with a script written in his Annie Hall glory days and I got very excited. I read the middling reviews and I got unexcited.

Transformers: the Revenge of the Fallen - Straight from the horses mouth, "On the foreign front, from the terrible amateur cut down trailer I received which had a 23 frame flash cut of Megatron, if someone would of given me just one call, I could of told them the whole point of the trailer was the reintroducton of Megatron." Noted Michael Bay

Taking Woodstock - Watching this trailer, you'd think Ang Lee was more invested in the Hulk than he was in the story of the guy who ran a motel next to Woodstock.

We Love You So!

Spike Jonze has a blog! Spike is kind of a bit player on his own site, but We Love You So, like Kanye’s blog, highlights Jonze approved culture bits and Where the Wild Things Are supplements.

We Love You So!

New York Philharmonic in North Korea

Photographer Chang Lee, traveling with the New York Philharmonic to Pyongyang, was given a rare opportunity to shoot photos inside North Korea and post the results outside. The mix of governmental propagandizing with the citizens going through their mundane everyday lives is fascinating.

The Philharmonic in Pyongyang

Trailer Issue Vol. 5

Terminator: Salvation – After the Dark Knight, there is now an opening to direct edgier, darker summer movies. Look even McG (he of Charlie’s Angels fame) is doing it. Unfortunately for G, the economy went to hell and we want escapism in the form of mall cops and apparently Vin Diesel.

Public Enemies – I’m a geek for prohibition era America and roaring twenties gangster stories but despite plenty of films set during that time, none have quite satisfied my imaginations of the genre. After this trailer, I believe in Michael Mann.

Up – The most consistent studio ever delivers again, this time by tying balloons to a house and dropping a grumpy old man and a fat boy scout into an amazon inhabited by talking dogs.

Star Trek – If I’m talking to someone about Science Fiction movies and that person is lumping all of Science Fiction into one big bag, I’m quick to point out that yea I like Star Wars and the Matrix but I’m not like a trekkie or anything. That line of defense ends on or around May 8th.

Observe and Report – Another fucking mall cop movie! But don’t worry, director Jody Hill assures us that his is good and not just bad economy good like that piece of shit Paul Blart. After Eastbound and Down, I’m willing to believe him.

Tyson – Sports (and mankinds) most fascinating character gets a long-deserved documentary. Which route will Toback take? A manic roadshow absorbing Tyson’s bizarre history or a solemn tale of Iron Mike, the pigeon lover. A little bit of both would be my guess.

Adventureland – My three Netflix movies I have at home are Kieslowski’s Decalogue, Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage and Antonioni’s l’Eclisse, which are all following similarly weighty European films. Thank God for Adventureland. I need some levity. Update: Now all I read is saying that A-land is kind of melancholy. :-(

Fanny & Alexander

Fanny & Alexander was Ingmar Bergman's supposed but not actual swan song, the culmination of his talents as a filmmaker. It was a challenging and personal story to tell, epic in both its length and execution, yet the film is light, unencumbered by its morality.

Centering on the Corleonesque Ekdahl family, Fanny & Alexander is about young ten year old Alexander (Fanny is like John Oates in this regard, a glorified backup singer) and how he deals when his father, the head of a theater troupe, dies and his mother is remarried to a strict bishop. Where Alexander's imagination was once cultivated, it is now squashed.

One doesn't have to look to hard to see Bergman in Alexander, who acts as megaphone for Bergman's love of creativity, art, and imagination and his distrust of anything that gets in the way of those pursuits.

Out of the venerable masters of cinema, Bergman has been the one I’ve avoided. His work seemed bogged down, bleak as a Swedish winter. It was this quality that pushed me away from Bergman, yet there is much joy and whimsy in Fanny & Alexander.