Who doesn’t love a good blooper reel? A short blooper reel from the Academy Award-nominated The Artist has come online, and not only do we get to see the talented human stars Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo mess up and goof around, but we also see that Uggie the dog didn’t always hit his mark.
The Plot:
Hollywood 1927. George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a silent movie superstar. The advent of the talkies will sound the death knell for his career and see him fall into oblivion. For young extra Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), it seems the sky is the limit – major movie stardom awaits. The Artist tells the story of their interlinked destinies.
The Artist opened in theaters on November 25, 2011.
“Everybody be cool. Look right at their eyes,” says Ottway (Liam Neeson) to the handful of survivors in the frozen Alaskan wilderness as a pack of fierce wolves close in on their campfire in the dramatic film The Grey.
After surviving a horrific plane crash, Ottway decides to take charge and tries to lead the few remaining survivors away from the wreckage and into the woods. He believes that will take them further away from the wolves’ den, wherever that might be, and provide better shelter from any further attacks from the mangy, angry beasts who, according to Ottway, view them as a threat to the pack.
Struggling to fight the unbearably freezing cold, and to get along among themselves, the group heads out slowly moving toward the far-off woods. It’s not long before the wolves begin yet another attack on the stranded oil-rig workers, and the race to see who will make it alive to the woods is on. With no food, almost no water, and more winter storms heading their way, the weary, wounded men fight the elements, wolves, and themselves trying to make it back to civilization before time or their strength runs out.
Intense and at times gruesome, The Grey is a gripping survival thriller that benefits from a powerful performance from Liam Neeson. His commanding presence as he struggles to get the rest of the survivors to follow and believe in him is the very heart and soul of the movie.
The first half of The Grey captures perfectly the frozen wasteland where no man could hope to survive due to the brutal and unforgiving elements that Mother Nature provides. The pain and agony of the freezing cold is portrayed extremely well on film by the cast, and the cinematic Alaskan landscape is truly impressive. The first visit from the wolves is a mesmerizing and terrifying scene as all that can be made out in the darkness are glowing, angry animal eyes and snarling sounds which will have chills running down the backs of the audience.
Unfortunately, it’s the second part of the film where it becomes predictable, slow, and unrealistic that the movie loses its suspenseful edge. The pacing goes from being deliberately slow to methodically tedious, with too many conversations between the men fighting to stay warm, alert, and alive. It just doesn’t ring true. Also, once the wolves come out into the daylight, they are no longer scary because it’s only too obvious they’re fake.
Still, because of the strong performances by Liam Neeson and the rest of the cast, including Dermot Mulroney, Joe Anderson, and Frank Grillo, The Grey is a film worth catching up on the big screen. But, only at a bargain price.
GRADE: C
The Grey hits theaters on January 27, 2012 and is rated R for violence/disturbing content including bloody images, and for pervasive language.
I don’t think I’ve ever watched anything like this before… Summit’s released the trailer for Man on a Ledge and that’s not what’s unusual. No, this trailer comes complete with a commentary track by actress Elizabeth Banks who provides the lowdown on what was happening behind the scenes during the shots shown in the trailer.
It’s a weird idea, but interesting enough to be worth checking out.
An ex-cop and now wanted fugitive (Sam Worthington) stands on the ledge of a high-rise building while a hard-living New York Police Department negotiator (Elizabeth Banks) tries to talk him down. The longer they are on the ledge, the more she realizes that he might have an ulterior objective.
The 11 teams that will be competing on season #20 of CBS’ The Amazing Race have been announced. Phil Keoghan will be back as host, watching over the teams which are set to include married couples, border patrol agents, twins, dating divorcees, and even Big Brother housemates, Rachel Reilly and Brendon Villegas. Season 20 will kick off on Sunday, February 19th at 8pm ET/PT.
Teams will have to test their ability to handle challenges, including skydiving and training with Masai warriors, as they race around five continents and 22 cities. The ultimate goal: win the $1 million prize.
Because being a reality TV star and tabloid staple isn’t enough, Kim Kardashian is continuing her campaign to add ‘actor’ to her resume. She’s got a supporting role in Tyler Perry’s The Marriage Counselor and now Lifetime says she’ll have a multiple-episode arc on Drop Dead Diva. Kardashian’s stint on the show begins with the season four premiere, which is expected to begin shooting next month. New episodes of the series will debut this summer.
According to the press release, Kardashian is attached to play “Nikki, Fred’s (Ben Feldman) new love interest who partners with his ex Stacy (April Bowlby) in a new business venture.”
Past guest stars on the show have included Liza Minnelli, Rosie O’Donnell, Paula Abdul, Brandy Norwood, LeAnn Rimes, Elliott Gould, Kathy Griffin, and Tim Gunn.
“I’m ecstatic to welcome Kim to the Diva family,” stated creator and executive producer Josh Berman. “In discussing the role of Nikki with her, I’m blown away by her smarts, sense of humor, and passion. This series is all about reinvention and I’m so excited to see Kim ‘reinvented’ in the world of Drop Dead Diva.”
The Plot of Drop Dead Diva:
Drop Dead Diva tells the story of a shallow, aspiring model who dies in a sudden accident, only to find her soul resurfacing in the body of a brilliant, thoughtful and plus-size attorney (Brooke Elliott). The series also stars Margaret Cho, Jackson Hurst, Kate Levering, and Josh Stamberg.
Funny thing about standing on ledges: it’s getting off of them that prove to be the hardest part. We’ll get back to that in a bit. First, let’s discuss Man on a Ledge.
The film stars the current Aussie in the spotlight, Sam Worthington. Following the lead role in a small independent film named Avatar (it did okay at the box office so I’m told), he’d go on to be cast in other low-profile movies like Terminator: Salvation and Clash of the Titans. Think whatever you’d like to about those films … now resist the urge to blame Worthington; because let’s be fair, only his part in Batman vs. the Robots had any depth to it. I’m not even sure the other two films have typewritten screenplays.
Well in this film, he’s an ex-cop doing time for stealing a diamond large enough to get Kim Kardashian’s attention and, stop me if you heard this before: he says he was framed. (I told you to stop me.) So in order to prove his innocence, he plays a 72-step metaphorical chess game against Ed Harris and the police, with baby brother (Jamie Bell) and baby brother’s ridiculously hot girlfriend (Genesis Rodriguez) helping to keep the pieces in motion. Elizabeth Banks plays the negotiator sent in to talk him off the titular ledge who, stop me if you heard this before: begins to believe the protagonist is telling the truth. (Okay, fine, I get it. You’re not going to stop me.)
What follows is a game of obvious setups, unfathomably accurate contingency plans, and the worst special effects scene since the flipping convertible car crash of In Time. Now, one might be saying to themselves: Boy, this review isn’t painting the film in a very positive light. And you’d be sort of right. This review isn’t extolling many virtues on the execution of a script that wants to be oh-so clever, and yet just follows the basic playbook without any noticeable deviation.
Still, that’s not to say one can’t enjoy the movie. Being a January release, one shouldn’t think they’re going to see something like The Usual Suspects in terms of keeping the audience off-balance and delivering on its premise. As long as you go into this with moderate expectations (and manage not to spit your coke out on the people in front of you when the terrible CGI effect comes into play), this is a decent way to spend 103 minutes away from reality.
The performances all-around are fine, nothing amazing, but definitely serviceable. More importantly, the interplay between the actors works well. It would have been nice to avoid the classic movie pitfall of casting a very recognizable actor (I’ll be nice and avoid saying who) in a seemingly insignificant part, only to reveal they have a bigger part to play (seriously, it’s almost distractingly obvious this character will factor into something more later in the film); but that’s perhaps more of a gripe for hardcore moviegoers and film critics who see more movies in one year than the average person might see in five.
Getting back to where this whole review started, the best parts of the movie occur while Worthington is up on the ledge as his meticulously crafted plan is set in motion by those around him. Figuring out how he’ll get off his perch is where the film begins to turn into a small mess of hurried resolutions. Had the screenwriter and director spent more time figuring out how to wrap things up, this might have been a very welcome surprise to start the year. As it stands, Man on a Ledge certainly passes for casual entertainment but don’t feel like you’re missing out if you wait for it to hit the home market.
GRADE: C
Man on a Ledge hits theaters on January 27, 2012 and is rated PG-13 for violence and brief strong language.
MTV’s set to premiere the documentary series Caged on January 9, 2012. The one-hour docuseries focuses on MMA fighters attempting to make a living off of fighting.
Caged follows the lives of a group of small town (Minden, Louisiana) MMA fighters inside and outside the cage. One young man, Daniel Payne, comes from a well-off family and has everything handed to him, but he’s struggling to get over his first love who passed away in a car accident. He wants to prove he can stand on his own two feet and make a name for himself without the help of his family by becoming an MMA fighter.
The show also follows the lives of on-again-off-again couple Wes Branch and ‘Red’ (Jessica Yount). Wes had a difficult childhood but was able to put himself through college and get a good job. He and Red have a baby together. Red is a single mother, for the time being, who is a full-time nursing student and a waitress. She’s struggling to get by and struggling to figure out where her and Wes’ relationship stands.
Matt ‘Danger’ Schnell longs for his family’s approval of his decision to be an MMA fighter and hopes to go pro someday, but struggles with his family life. His father refuses to come to his fights and his mother’s an alcoholic who he’s constantly worrying about.
The thing about passion projects is that they’re particularly personal to whoever is behind it. And the worry there is that they might not translate into material anyone else is interested in. Such is the case with Glenn Close’s involvement in the film Albert Nobbs. Close played the title role in the 1982 stage production of the story, netting her an OBIE award, and she’s essentially been trying to get this on film ever since (in a much more concentrated fashion in the last 10 years).
Based on a short story by George Moore, the time period is the late 1800s and Albert is actually a woman (shock) masquerading as a man in order to earn a better living. There are personal reasons that led to the transformation and a not-so-subtle lesbian subtext, especially after meeting another woman doing the same thing, but all of that doesn’t matter.
Why not, you ask? Because Albert Nobbs is boring. Actually, I take that back, Nobbs is spelled with two b’s: Albert Nobbs is boring BORING. It’s the cinematic equivalent of staring at a wall. Sure, Brendan Gleeson does his best to inject some life into a few scenes, but there’s only so much he can do given the script and direction … and it’s not enough.
And as for all of the potential awards talk for Close’s performance, just shut up. She’s a very talented actress but watching her adopt a laughably bad deep voice and look like a flesh-colored version of Robin Williams in Bicentennial Man is an uphill struggle to resist the urge to leave the theater. It’s easier to see how this might have worked on-stage, as it’s a very static production having only a few locations, and trying to suspend disbelief about women playing men works better at a distance. Asking people to pay $62 to sit in uncomfortable movie seats is just cruel.
Compounding things is a story that probably made a great deal of sense as a short story. Expanding it for a feature film (Close also co-wrote the script and was an executive producer) simply did not work. The characters are largely uninteresting, it takes FOREVER to get towards anything worth exploring, and even then it’s all like some Saturday afternoon Masterpiece Theater production – only even more passive if that’s possible.
And if it hasn’t sunk in just how boring this project is, the most exciting thing to happen during the entire screening was that the projectionist had made an error splicing together two of the middle reels, causing the change between them to drop the film out of frame. While completely annoying and unprofessional, that mistake at least created a slight amount of energy, which is far more than can be said for the movie itself.
Trying to meticulously dissect everything that made the film, so mind-numbingly bland is a waste of my time writing the review and yours in reading it. Avoid Albert Nobbs like the theater is full of angry, hungry, and diseased Bengal tigers. The only people who should be watching this are the criminally insane and terrorists … oh, and anyone suffering from insomnia.
GRADE: D-
Alfred Nobbs is rated R for some sexuality, brief nudity and language.
Echo and the Bunnymen’s “The Killing Time” plays as a vampire drives toward a campfire that’s surrounded by vampires kicking back, dancing and having a vampire party. But unfortunately for the vampire partiers, Audi’s new headlights aren’t exactly fang-friendly.
This 60 second Super Bowl commercial, which launched early on Youtube, promotes the 2013 Audi S7 – spotlighting the headlights.
Billboard reports Adele’s 21 is showing no signs of going away anytime soon. The album has now sat firmly in the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart for 17 weeks in a row, making it the longest streak since The Bodyguard pulled off a 20 week run back in 1993.
So, can Adele’s 21 hold on for 21 weeks? She’s going to be facing some tough competition from the 2012 Grammy Nominees CD as well as Tim McGraw’s new release, reports Billboard.
Adele’s 21 is followed on the charts by Kidz Bop 21, the Black Keys’ El Camino, Drake’s Take Care, Rihanna’s Talk That Talk, Young Jeezy’s TM103: Hustlerz Ambition, James Fortune & FIYA’s Identity, Toby Keith’s Clancy’s Tavern, Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto, Nickelback’s Here and Now.
