MONEYBALL movie review
Moneyball (2011) — ***1/2 Moneyball isn’t your average sports film mostly because it can’t be. It is, after all, a film about two men who upend the traditional means for developing a baseball roster. The film daringly balances the usual sports film cliches with moments of existential drama. It focuses on management level problems but never forgets the players on the field. It’s cynical and romantic all at once. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a sports film quite like it. Any Given Sunday comes closest, but even Oliver Stone’s behind-the-scenes look at football fails to provide an emotional struggle like that of Billy Beane’s. Beane (Brad Pitt), a former top draft pick who failed to live up to the hype, is the general manager of the Oakland Athletics. After losing the major players from his 2001 playoff team...
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Big 6 – Telluride & Venice Film Fests
Watch Out, Oscar: Here Come the Film Festivals Venice has booked a few films that aren’t making it to Toronto, most notably Roman Polanski’s “Carnage,” Tomas Alfredson’s “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” and Soderbergh’s “Contagion,” plus a lot that will screen in Italy and then immediately head for Canada (perhaps with a detour through Telluride along the way): “The Ides of March,” “A Dangerous Method,” “Coriolanus” and Madonna’s take on the Wallis Simpson story, “W.E.” Read the full Reuters article Clooney, Swinton and Étaix to be honored at Telluride film fest Also screening is Alexander Payne’s The Descendants starring George Clooney. The actor will receive one of Telluride’s Silver Medallion awards. Actress Tilda Swinton and French filmmaker/actor Pierre Étaix will also be honored with this award for their contributions to the world of cinema. Read the full Independent article Telluride film fest serves up...
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Big 6: BOYZ N THE HOOD at 20, David Lynch’s nightclub, more
Boyz n the Hood, 20 Years Later: The Making of a Movie That Did Race Right The film was Boyz n the Hood. Press coverage of violence attributed to its opening made it controversial, while rave reviews made it one of the most critically acclaimed of the year. Later, the Motion Picture Academy nominated Singleton for writing and directing Oscars, making him not only the youngest filmmaker nominated for directing but also the first African American. The film is now considered one of the centerpieces of modern black cinema for its realistic portrayal of life in the inner city. Boyz n the Hood also introduced a national conversation about inner-city gang violence, a subject that until then had been mostly a local urban issue. Read the full Atlantic article Inside David Lynch’s Paris nightclub This is Lynch’s answer to Warhol’s Factory, the existentialists’...
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Stephen King’s UNDER THE DOME series officially with Showtime
Apparently, it takes time to turn a 1074-page novel into a full TV series. Steven Spielberg and Stephen King have been developing King’s Under the Dome at DreamWorks TV since 2009. Now comes word that sci-fi tome about a small town in Maine that’s separated from the outside world after an invisible dome envelopes the town is officially in development at Showtime. This isn’t the first Steven King series to hit the small screen in recent years. Syfy recently renewed the series Haven, which is adaptation of King’s pulp crime novel, The Colorado Kid. And USA Networks had Dead Zone, starring Anthony Michael Hall. In recent weeks, there have also been moves to adapt The Stand and King’s upcoming JFK assassination novel 11 23 63 for the big screen. (Let’s not talk about The Dark Tower for now.) None of those had Steven Spielberg attached though. Maybe Spielberg can...
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BIG 6: High-tech Hitchcock?, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, Remakes, more
Where would Alfred Hitchcock be with today’s technology? A very Hitchcockian device, mistaken identity. It sets the entire plot in motion. But Hitch couldn’t have made that movie today. Not set in 2011, at least, because what successful businessman leaves the office without his 4G smartphone? Read the full LAT article Midnight In Paris Star Corey Stoll Attributes Film’s Success To ‘Pleasant’ And ‘Uplifting’ Appeal “It’s that world, people really relate to, that sort of fantasy,” he continued. “It’s also uplifting. It’s pretty rare to see a movie that’s uplifting in an un-saccharine way. It’s a pleasant hour and a half to spend, I think people respond to it and I think that people are missing that real escape.” Read the full MTV Movies Blog Scrapbooking Big-Screen Memories A movie theater can be a magical place, a portal; in the cold, quiet...
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BIG 6: DON’T BE AFRAID’s Madison, Helen Mirren, Mermaids, more
Meet Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark‘s young star, Bailee Madison “Something my mom and I have always said to each other is: ‘We’re not here for interviews. We’re not here to get your picture taken,’ ” the soon-to-be sixth-grader said. “ ‘We’re here to make a difference, and this is our opportunity to.’ ” Read the full LAT article Helen Mirren on The Debt, Getting Played by Jessica Chastain, and Everyone’s Ongoing Obsession With Her Body First off, it was difficult for John Madden to quite find an actress who could be the young me. It’s hard enough finding one person who is right for a role, let alone finding two people! And then he found Jessica Chastain, who not only shares certain characteristics [with me] but who looks like me. Read the full NY Mag article Mermaids: The New...
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