Sunset Limited on DVD/Blu-Ray

This is the third post concerning Cormac McCarthy that I've put up in the last few weeks. The first was to tell you that McCarthy sold a spec script called 'The Counselor' about a lawyer who pays the consequences of dabbling in the drug trade. The second post told you that Ridley Scott was considering 'The Counselor' as his next project after his current film 'Prometheus' wraps up. Both of these news items make me happy, but there is even more good news on the way.

McCarthy mostly writes novels, but he also has one play (for the stage, not the screen) to his credit. It's called 'The Sunset Limited' and is a two-character study in which a man saves another from a suicide attempt. The play features both characters, an antisocial white college professor and a black, deeply religious ex-con, explaining their philosophies on life and faith.

HBO adapted the play last year, though it came and went without much fanfare. It was directed by and starred Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson. That's a pretty good duo for a two-person play.

The film releases on DVD/Blu-ray on February 7. I've got it in my Amazon wish-list, and you might consider it too, if you enjoy rich, character-driven film experiences.

2012 Academy Awards Preview and Predictions: Pt 1

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominations for the 2012 Oscars a few weeks ago, and the Oscars will be handed out a little over a month from now. Here is the list of nominees in the major awards categories as well as who I want to win and who I think will win for each one. There are a lot of categories to cover, so I'm breaking this preview into two parts. The first will cover the acting categories and the second part to come later will cover the others.

Best Picture

War Horse

The Artist

Moneyball

The Descendents

The Tree of Life

Midnight in Paris

The Help

Hugo

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

There are nine nominees this year, and, honestly, not one of them blows me away. I keep thinking about which one of these will appear on future top-of-the-decade lists, but I don’t see any of them representing the decade of 2010’s. Films like Moneyball and The Descendents were very good films to be sure, but nothing about them screams ‘classic’. Films like War Horse and Hugo were good films from respected directors but failed to live up to their potential. The Tree of Life and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close were bad films, and I’m actually surprised to see them on this list.

Who I want to win: The Artist

The Artist is a very good film, but even it has flaws, mostly concerning its runtime, which is about thirty minutes too long. Still, it stands as a very impressive piece of film. In an era where silent films rarely exist, The Artist shows that the genre can still be done with style and grace. Everything from the acting to the directing, costume design, script, cinematography, and music are well done. This film could have been a joke, a curiosity, but the quality of its craftsmanship elevates it to a much higher level. That’s what makes it stand out to me as the best picture of 2011.

Who I think will win: Hugo

The Academy loves rewarding old-school talent, and Scorsese is one of their favorites. Hugo is a flawed film told in two distinct halves. One half is about a boy trying to rebuild his father’s automaton, which was a project of theirs before his father’s death. The second half is a synopsis of early cinema history. The first half has a few quality moments, but the second half really shines. Taken as a whole, Hugo feels disjointed, but the craftsmanship on display and the ode to cinema in the second half could very well earn Scorsese an Oscar.

Lead Actor

Demian Bichir - A Better Life

George Clooney - The Descendents

Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt - Moneyball

Who I want to win: Jean Dujardin

Where is Fassbender? Michael Fassbender starred in four films this year (Jane Eyre, X-Men: First Class, A Dangerous Method, and Shame), and each one demanded a different acting style. He was fantastic in every role. If an actor could be nominated for his collective body of work in a year, then surely he would have received a nomination. As it stands, the Academy members couldn’t pick one representative role, and Fassbender goes without a nomination. Hopefully, they will let him present an award so that he can at least take the stage.

The acting in The Artist is phenomenal across the board. Dujardin channels a turn-of-the-century style to give us a mesmerizing performance in a silent film. His is acting in a very different style than any of the other actors on this list. His performance is reliant on his body and facial expression alone, and he nails it. He seems perfectly at home it that environment, which I’m guessing would be a difficult thing to accomplish for other actors. I doubt Clooney or Pitt could pull off that performance.

Oldman gives a very subdued performance that borders too close to ‘boring’ for my tastes, while Pitt and Clooney are good but not spectacular in their roles.

Who I think will win: George Clooney

He does a good job as Matt, the father dealing with multiple crises including his wife’s coma, the struggles of his daughters, and the dilemma over how to develop a large swath of land he owns in Hawaii. But, he’s not spectacular. He even gets outshined by Shailene Woodley who plays his daughter in the film. None of that will matter to the Academy though. They’ll seize the opportunity to give their buddy Clooney a best actor award.

Lead Actress

Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis - The Help

Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn

Who I want to win: Meryl Streep

A few surprises here. Rooney Mara goes all out for her role as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and gets a surprise nomination, and Viola Davis can add Academy Award nominee to her resume. That’s nice, but a veteran actress has upstaged everyone this year.

Streep puts in a great performance as Margaret Thatcher. The movie isn’t so great, but that’s not Meryl’s fault. Watching her progress from the young, spry Thatcher to the old doddering version made the movie worth watching. You forget that the person on screen is not the real Margaret Thatcher.

Who I think will win: Viola Davis

Davis is getting a lot of accolades for her performance in The Help including picking up a Screen Actors Guild award. I haven’t seen the film so I can’t comment, but the buzz for her is deafening right now. She must be pretty incredible to outshine Streep.

Best Director

Michael Hazanavicius - The Artist

Alexander Payne - The Descendents

Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris

Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life

Who I want to win: Martin Scorsese

Hugo has the best direction of the nominated films. Scorsese directs his butt off on this film and turns his first foray in 3D into a beautiful history lesson on early motion pictures. I may not have liked the disjointed nature of the film, but Scorsese does a great job with flawed material.

Hazanavicius does a good job juggling some intricate scenes with The Artist and earns his nomination. The Descendents was solid, but not spectacular. As much as I wanted to like The Tree of Life it was way too overcooked to be enjoyable.

Who I think will win: Martin Scorsese

Scorsese is an old-school director trying out some new tricks while referencing motion picture history. That’s a recipe the Academy loves. They also love Woody Allen, and Midnight in Paris was one of his best films in years, so they could look his way. I’ll throw my remote control if Malick wins for The Tree of Life.

Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn

Jonah Hill - Moneyball

Nick Nolte - Warrior

Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Who I want to win: Max von Sydow

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was a very flawed film. The main character, the kid who may or may not have Asperger’s Syndrome and runs all over New York City by himself trying to solve a mystery, is the worst possible character. There’s way too much wrong with the kid to let him be on his own. He needed Adderall or Prozac or something. Max von Sydow, who plays the mute old man who befriends the kid, is, on the other hand, a great character wonderfully brought to life. Max von Sydow’s performance is the best thing in a crap movie. He’s so good that he elevates the whole film to a much more enjoyable place. He’s awesome.

Jonah Hill is a polite nomination by the Academy, and Nick Nolte shows that he can play a gruff old man, but neither are as good as Sydow.

Who I think will win: Kenneth Branagh

I keep hearing about his performance, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he took home the Oscar. As I said, I haven’t seen the film, but the hype machine in blaring full blast for him to take the award.

Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo - The Artist

Jessica Chastain - The Help

Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer - The Help

Who I want to win: Berenice Bejo

She captures the look and feel of a silent film starlet perfectly. She lights up the screen with her bright smile and playful eyes and threatens to steal the show from Dujardin every time they are on screen together. She does a lot of heavy work in the film and is the picture of grace throughout. She’s magical.

Who I think will win: Berenice Bejo

She kills in this role, and I think she’ll be rewarded. Chastain, Spencer, and McCarthy feel like fluff nominations. It’s the Academy saying, “See? We nominate people from popular films too!”

Check back in a few days for part two of the preview and predictions. Let me know what you think in the comments!

G. I. Joe: Retaliation Trailer

Several movie trailers came out during the month of December, including this one that flew under my radar. I wanted to share it with you, mostly because it features ninjas fighting on a cliff face. Awesome.

I enjoyed the first G. I. Joe. It was a totally stupid, popcorn munching movie with no aspiration to be anything but. It was the movie that you and your buddies would have dreamed up when you were eight years old playing in the back yard. You can't have a 'serious' G. I. Joe film, so make one that is loud and dumb and has some cool fight scenes.

It looks like the sequel will bring us more of the same, and I'm perfectly fine with that. Behold The Rock firing guns, loud explosions, implausible story lines, ninjas fighting on the side of a cliff.

Ridley Scott eyeing McCarthy's spec script

I told you a few days ago that Cormac McCarthy, one of the greatest living American authors, surprised his agents by handing them a spec script. His agents immediately sold the screenplay, which centers around a lawyer who delves in the drug trade, to the same producers responsible for bringing us the film version of McCarthy's novel The Road. Selling a screenplay isn't a guarantee that a film will be made as there are a lot of moving parts in Hollywood, but the project seems to be gaining serious steam.

Ridley Scott is currently wrapping up post-production on Prometheus, which is a pseudo-prequel to Alien and is one of my most anticipated films of the year. In looking for his next project, Scott is eyeing the McCarthy script. Think about it, the guy who directed everything from Alien to Blade Runner to Black Hawk Down to Gladiator is looking to direct a script from a Pulitzer Prize winning author who wrote such magnificent novels as No Country for Old Men, The Road, Suttree and Blood Meridian. Wow.

If Scott decides to make this his next project, then we could conceivably see this film in theaters in 2013. Make it happen Ridley.

Movies of the Month: February 2012

February is the month of love and lovers, so there are a number of romantic comedies coming out this time of year. Some of them might even be watchable. It’s thin pickings at the cinema unless you want to woo your lady friend. A few of the non-rom-com films coming out certainly look interesting, however, so there are enough films in the month to keep bachelor guys like me entertained.

Week of February 3, 2012

The Woman in Black

The Plot: A young lawyer travels to a small village where he must contend with a vengeful spirit haunting a lonely mansion in the marsh. Can the lawyer lift the curse from the local townspeople and end her reign of terror?

Who’s in it? Daniel Radcliffe

Ultimate Fate: The trailers for this one look really creepy. This is also Daniel’s first post-Potter starring role, and I’m very interested to see what he does with it. I hope that it’s as scary as it promises to be and that Radcliffe can flex his acting chops in a role that is very different for him.

Chronicle

The Plot: A few teenage kids gain super powers and then spend their time doing what any teenagers with super powers would do, creating chaos.

Who’s in it? Three kids I don’t know.

Ultimate Fate: This film has two major strikes against it.

The first is that it’s in the ‘found footage’ genre. It plays as a mock documentary with the kids videotaping their exploits. I’m really tired of this genre. Most of the recent ‘found footage’ films would have played better if they were shot as a regular film. Why waste making a special-effects heavy film if it’s presented to the audience by a shaky-cam?

The second major strike is that this film shows what happens when ‘real people’ get magical superpowers. I prefer my superheroes to battle it out with supervillians. Give me mutants versus mutants in X-Men, Thor versus Loki, even Iron Man versus a superweapon. A superhero without an equally powered supervillian is not a fair fight, and I lose interest. I’m guessing that at least one of the kids is a bad seed and does some evil stuff or else this one could be very dull indeed.

Big Miracle

The Plot: Three grey whales get trapped in the winter ice near Barrow, Alaska. It’s up to the local community to band together to save them.

Who’s in it? John Krasinski, Drew Barrymore

Ultimate Fate: Sure why not? Dolphin Tale was a big success, and this is a film in much the same vein. You know it’s going to have some cute moments that will be suitable for every audience. For a while the animal-themed movies were all about penguins. Now they’re about marine mammals. I can’t wait for the ‘manatee in peril’ film.

Where I’ll be this weekend: I can’t wait to see what Daniel Radcliffe does in a post-Potter world. Plus, it looks pretty spooky.

February 10

Safe House

The Plot: A CIA agent must look after a fugitive is a South African safe house. Things get crazy when the safe house is attacked and both the agent and fugitive must run.

Who’s in it? Ryan Reynolds, Denzel Washington

Ultimate Fate: It’s a pure action film starring a couple of good actors. It has a chance to be a decent film.

The Vow

Barf.

The Plot: A car accident causes a young wife to lose the past five years of her memory. Her husband must romance her again to show her that they really were meant to be together.

Who’s in it? Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum

Ultimate Fate: I’m sure the ladies will love this film. It’s got a cute guy professing his undying love for a beautiful woman. It’s certainly February. Gag.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

The Plot: A couple of kids and their bodyguard hunt down their grandfather on Mysterious Island, an island forgotten by time where fantastical creatures roam.

Who’s in it? Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Michael Caine, Vanessa Hudgens

Ultimate Fate: The spiritual sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth this time replacing Brendan Fraser with The Rock. That’s a good upgrade, I would say. Johnson is hyper-charismatic and this is a great role for him. I’m betting this film is a bigger success than the first. Take the kids for a mindless adventure flick.

Star Wars: Episode I 3D

You should know all about the plot and who’s in it, so I’ll cut straight to…

Ultimate Fate: George Lucas has decided to go back to the Star Wars well once more, this time by giving all of the films the 3D treatment. If it works for Disney, then it should work here too, right? I bet it looks stunning in 3D, especially the pod race, but I don’t sense much excitement here. We just got the entire saga on Blu-Ray last fall, and this is arguably the worst film in the series. I’m sure it will draw an audience who want to see the film on the big screen, but I don’t see it performing gangbusters.

Where I’ll be this weekend: Safe House for me. It features two good actors (okay, one good actor and one so-so actor) squaring off in a shoot-em-up across South Africa. I’m game. You couldn’t drag me to The Vow with any amount of persuasion.  

February 17

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

The Plot: The Ghost Rider tries once again to lift the curse on his soul, this time by stopping the devil from taking human form.

Who’s in it? Nicholas Cage, Ciaran Hinds, Christopher Lambert

Ultimate Fate: This movie looks bonkers. It’s directed by the guys who did Crank, so there should be no shortage of insanity, but that’s no guarantee it will be any good. You never know which Cage is going to show up for any given movie. It could be the cracked-out lunatic Cage (in a good way) or the cracked-out lunatic Cage (in a bad way). I don’t know what to think about this one, except for my general amazement that this sequel actually exists.

This Means War

The Plot: Two best buddy CIA agents find themselves dating the same girl. Their friendship turns to all-out war to win the girl.

Who’s in it? Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Reese Witherspoon

Ultimate Fate: This might actually be a decent date movie. It’s got two of the coolest leading men in an action movie fighting it out over one of Hollywood’s leading ladies. I wish it were a lady a bit more, I don’t know, provocative than Reese Witherspoon, but what the heck, I’ll play along. The film also took the brilliant strategy of shifting its release to February 14. That’s right, a decent-looking date flick opening on Valentine’s Day. It’s going to kill that night.

Where I’ll be this weekend: Well, The Human Centipede: Full Sequence comes out on Blu-Ray in an unrated directors cut version on Valentine’s Day, so I’ll probably be recovering from watching that over the weekend. It’s a terrible film on every level, yet I feel compelled to watch it.

February 24

Act of Valor

The Plot: Navy SEALs take on a mission to save some CIA operatives and uncover a terrorist plot in the US.

Who’s in it? Several actual Navy SEALs

Ultimate Fate: The filmmakers are hyping up the realness of this film. It stars Navy SEALs and many of the set pieces are taken from actual SEAL missions. It is supposed to be a glimpse into how those guys accomplish their incredible missions time and time again. Given the media coverage of the SEALs lately, particularly of SEAL Team Six after their takedown of Bin Laden, this could be another way to draw some positive attention their way. It’s too bad these guys are silent warriors; they deserve all kinds of credit.

Good Deeds

The Plot: A third generation successful businessman takes a single mother under his protective wings.

Who’s in it? Tyler Perry

Ultimate Fate: It’s a Tyler Perry film, but not one of his Madea outings. Perry cut his teeth with his own brand of comedy and drama films that catered primarily to the African American crowd, which is a fairly limited movie-going audience. He appears to be taking a more mainstream approach with this film, which could make it be a broader success.

Wanderlust

The Plot: A couple of recently unemployed socialites from New York City find themselves living in a commune in the woods with a bunch of hippie free-love types.

Who’s in it? Jennifer Aniston, Paul Ruud

Ultimate Fate: This film seems like a return to the safe romantic comedies that are Jennifer Aniston’s bread and butter. Her bold performance in Horrible Bosses must have been an anomaly. The premise seems a touch goofy, and it involves a commune full of hippies, which is seldom a good thing. It might be decent, but I doubt it. Hippies have a way of sucking the fun out of everything.

Where I’ll be this weekend: I have a lot of friends in the military, and a few who aspire to be Special Forces. I’m curious to see what Act of Valor has to offer.

Movie of the Month: This one’s actually easy for me. It’s all about Radcliffe this month. I’m really amped to see The Woman in Black. If a horror film isn’t your style and you’re looking for a romantic comedy in February, then maybe you’ll fancy Act of War. 

Thanks for reading the previews. I hope you guys find a movie in there that you like. Let me know in the comments below, and while you're at it, Follow me on Twitter!

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Stallone tones down The Expendables 2

Yesterday brought great news from the film industry with the announcement that Cormac McCarthy sold a spec script. Today brings negative news regarding one of my most-anticipated films of 2012, The Expendables 2.

Earlier today, director Sylvester Stallone confirmed that his upcoming sequel to the 1980’s action star reunion film, The Expendables 2, will be presented not as an R rated film like the first, but with a more family friendly PG-13 rating.

How is it possible that the sequel to one of the coolest films of 2010, which is set to increase the insane star power of its lineup by including Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme, can be downgraded from the R rating of the original to a PG-13 rating? The original was conceived as a PG-13 film, but somewhere along the line, Stallone wizened up at converted it to R by sprucing up some action bits, livening up the language, and adding digital blood effects. It seems strange that Stallone would go back to the PG-13 format, which will limit the violence, gore, and language, when the The Expendables was very successful even with the R rating.

Apparently, Chuck Norris petitioned for the lower rating in the sequel. See, Chuck is a nice guy, no matter what your t-shirt says, and he doesn’t want to be involved in a project with gratuitous violence. Stallone acquiesced and made some changes to the script to tone things down for The Expendables 2.   

The action fan in me doesn’t want to see the film neutered to a PG-13 rating. It seems a shame to have the likes of Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Liam Hemsworth, Randy Couture, Dolph freaking Lundgren, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the aforementioned Stallone, Van Damme, and Norris all appearing in one film without letting them all go ballistic. As it is, this news is a bit disappointing, but I’m going to go with the mantra “In Stallone We Trust”. I mean, you can blow up half of the free world and still maintain a PG-13 rating as long as you don’t show people being blown to smithereens. Here’s hoping that we get a good blow-‘em-up film in August, even with the lower rating.