I should have been working last night, but I ended up watching the Golden Globes instead. So now I’m rushing to finish all the stuff that’s due today, and hating myself for watching the Golden Globes. Any organization that thinks “The Tourist” is a comedy has no standing in my eyes. Seriously, I’m on the record about that.
Also, “The Green Hornet” won the box-office weekend with $34 million in receipts, so … um … shame on all of you.
You know how some mornings, you throw open the blinds and all your plans for the day just fall over dead? Yeah, this was one of those. Took Dexter out, bought a scone, came back home and watched him watch the snow accumulate. Probably won’t accomplish much more than that.
Oh, and this is something: I’m supposed to talk about the Golden Globes on CTV News Channel hit tomorrow at 9:15 am, which means driving out to Agincourt at 8 am. I assume the roads will be clear by then. If not, things will be awfully awkward when my slot comes up …
I’m assuming you’ve already seen “Nostalgia for the Light“, and are looking for something else to watch this weekend. Because if you haven’t seen “Nostalgia for the Light”, there’s no reason to bother with anything else until you catch up to it … and it’s not like the week’s studio pictures deserve your patronage.
“Another Year”: Mike Leigh’s latest feels like a spiritual sequel to “High Hopes”, dropping in on a selection of Londoners as they slide unsteadily through middle age. Lesley Manville’s not-so-quietly desperate performance is designed to get all the attention, but I was most impressed by Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen, who layer their happily married characters with the possibility that their happiness depends largely on feeling superior to their pathetic friends. Rad liked it, too.
“Breathless“: The Korean actor Yang Ik-joon delivers one hell of a directorial debut with this study of the tentative friendship between a brutal gangster (Yang, who also wrote the perceptive script) and a rebellious schoolgirl (Kim Kot-bi). Grim stuff, but it doesn’t play that way — in fact, it’s often downright thrilling.
“The Dilemma“: Okay, “The Da Vinci Code” was bad, but Ron Howard’s latest film — after the upturn of “Frost/Nixon” and “Angels & Demons” — is absolutely dreadful. A haphazard Vince Vaughn comedy with delusions of social relevance and dramatic tension, it’s almost unwatchable. Actually, scratch the “almost”. I don’t know why this movie exists.
“The Green Hornet“: Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry try to launch their own “Iron Man” franchise with this update of the 1930s radio character. This will not happen, though the opening scene, where Christoph Waltz and James Franco square off in a nightclub, is a perfect little short film. Consumer advisory: The post-conversion 3D on this one is particuarly terrible. See it flat, or bring a vial of Advil.
Seriously, just go see “Nostalgia for the Light”. Send a message.
First, the business: “Incendies” won the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award last night at the Toronto Film Critics Association gala, marking Denis Villeneuve’s second consecutive win after “Polytechnique” took the prize last year. As the association’s veep, it was my great pleasure to sit at a big round table with several valued friends and colleagues, eat a very nice dinner and let other people do all the talking.
Next, the pleasure: Patricio Guzman’s documentary-essay “Nostalgia for the Light” starts its exclusive run at the Lightbox today, and it is as splendid a piece of cinema as you’ll find on any screen in the city. Need more convincing? Of course you do; those tickets are expensive. So go read my review in today’s NOW, and then start planning your evening.
Also opening today: “London River”, Rachid Bouchareb’s rather melodramatic response to the London subway bombings of 2005. It’s quite well-acted, and Susan really liked it, but I found it a little too schematic for my tastes — much like Bouchareb’s previous attempt at a grand statement, “Days of Glory”.
Still, if it sounds like something you might want to see, it’s available on Netflix Canada now and will hit DVD next Tuesday. So go see “Nostalgia for the Light”.
Not much time for blogging today; the Toronto Film Critics Association is throwing its gala awards dinner tonight, and the preparations for that are taking up all of my time. Seriously, you wouldn’t believe how long it can take to put together a simple press release … and then you have to start on the seating chart.
And then there’s the question of the weather. Will anyone be able to make it through the gathering snow to attend the ceremony? Besides Toronto’s entertainment media, of course; we’ve long since grown accustomed to trudging through the arctic wastes to get to a free drink.
More importantly: Which film will take home our super-secret Rogers Best Canadian Film Award? Will it be Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies”, Vincenzo Natali’s “Splice” or Bruce McDonald’s “Trigger”? Check the TFCA website after 8:30 pm EST to learn the winner. I mean, I could tell you, but then they’d have to kill me.
Acclaimed as the film of the year by virtually every critical body in North America (including my own), David Fincher’s “The Social Network” is available on DVD and Blu-ray today. It’s an excellent movie, and the home-video presentation is up to Fincher’s usual high standards — top-notch transfer, comprehensive supplements, quietly stylish packaging. You should have this on your shelf.
My MSN DVD column isn’t up yet, so I’ll direct you to my NOW review of the picture from last fall, just to put you in the right frame of mind. I’ll link to the column as soon as it’s up.
UPDATE: We’re live! Enjoy!
The box-office tallies are in, and after two weeks in the shadow of “Little Fockers”, Joel and Ethan Coen’s “True Grit” finally broke out and claimed the top spot with a $15 million gross. With a total to date of $110.4 million, this marks the Coens their first bona fide hit since … well, ever, I think. (“Burn After Reading” opened at number one, but it faded very quickly.)
The week’s new releases didn’t fare as well. “Season of the Witch” took third place with a decent enough $10.7 million — I was sure that word of its ineptitude would start turning people away by Saturday afternoon — and “Country Strong” came in sixth with $7.3 million, a dud by any other name.
The only question now is whether industry natterers will finally acknowledge that Hollywood is historically unable to court the massive potential audience that is country-music fandom … or if they’ll just try blaming it on Gwyneth Paltrow. I’m betting on the latter. If only they’d cast Sandra Bullock!
That’s Dexter’s ear at right. It’s his first snow day with us — and possibly ever — and he spent about twenty minutes investigating every flake.
Eventually we went out and bought a shovel. It’s been that kind of morning.
Sometimes, the fact that Toronto doesn’t get movies as quickly as New York and Los Angeles works in our favor. If it wasn’t for the delayed openings of “Blue Valentine” and “Somewhere”, this would be an awfully grim week. Of course, we’re in that miserable period between Christmas Day and the announcement of the Oscar nominations, so we shouldn’t expect any better. “Blue Valentine” and “Somewhere” both opening today? That’s a win.
“Blue Valentine”: Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are endearing and devastating in equal measure — and sometimes in the same moment — in Derek Cianfrance’s calculated but undeniably powerful study of a young marriage on the rocks. Rad was a little less willing to overlook the contrivances (how old is that kid again?) but he acknowledges the power of the performances.
“Country Strong”: We know she can sing, Paltrow is getting mixed reviews for her role as a Nashville diva — Susan didn’t buy her at all — in the new film from the director of “The Greatest”. Having seen “The Greatest”, I’m content to wait for the DVD on this one.
“Precious Life”: Shlomi Eldar’s documentary finds a new angle on the impasse in the Middle East with this compelling look at the dedicated staff of an Israeli hospital as they try to save a dying Palestinian baby. Susan gets it.
“Season of the Witch“: Any movie in which Nicolas Cage plays a Crusader and Ron Perlman is his sidekick should either be much funnier or much scarier than what Dominic Sena comes up with here. Shelved since last March; isn’t any better for it. And depressingly cheap-looking, considering Sena’s the guy who made “Kalifornia”, “Gone in Sixty Seconds” and “Swordfish”.
“Somewhere“: Yes, Sofia Coppola is reworking ideas she first put forth in “Lost in Translation”, but this time she’s given both of her characters equal consideration, rather than letting Bill Murray fill out a character sketch. It won’t win her any new fans, but Coppola’s picking at something I find really intriguing.
And that’s the week. Onward and upward!
This week’s NOW finds me talking to Stephen Dorff for the second time in almost nineteen years; as I explain in the piece, he and I previously met in the winter of 1992, when he was on the press tour for “The Power of One” and I was but a wee freelancer for the Toronto Star. Now, he’s the internationally known star of Sofia Coppola’s new film “Somewhere”, and I am somehow middle-aged and bald. I try not to take this personally.
Also, we received a wonderfully pissy letter about my “Film Socialisme” review, written by someone who clearly wasn’t going to let go of the insult he had in his head, no matter how incoherently it comes across on the page. Ten bucks says the guy didn’t even see the movie.