Some months are busier than others, thus the brief cessation in posting.
We will continue next week with providing some insight into our favourite cinema-related websites. For now, though, what with the holiday season seemingly officially underway, now seems like as good a time as any to list the films we are most looking forward to seeing over the holiday season.
Of course, there are many more films in release between today and early January than we intend to list below. Quite simply, we’re going to focus on ‘Oscar bait’, those films the critics love and the films that will likely find most favour with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. So, here we go with VanRamblings’ most anticipated holiday season films …
True Grit: Due out December 22nd, at this point almost no one knows a darn thing about Joel and Ethan Coen’s latest film. But based on their track record, with Best Picture wins for Fargo and No Country for Old Men, the Coens are not to be discounted in either the Oscar or the entertainment sweepstakes. Although westerns are hardly the film genre that, these days, excites many filmgoers willing to plonk down a few bucks at the box office, there’s enough positive buzz out there for True Grit that we’d hardly be taking a risk in suggesting that this is one of the more anticipated films.
As to the remaining films cinéastes are most likely to want to see …
127 Hours: Opened last weekend in New York and Los Angeles to record box office, and due to open in Vancouver later this month, director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) has reportedly made one of the year’s best films, a swift, agonizing, defiantly cinematic masterpiece that rivets the viewer throughout, with a tour-de-force performance by James Franco at its centre. A definite must-see this holiday movie season. trailer
Love and Other Drugs: Another buzz film this holiday season, Anne Hathaway reportedly knocks it out of the park in what many critics suggest is an Oscar worthy performance. Opens November 24th. trailer
There are many more films that are Oscar bait, the sort of worthwhile films rarely seen during the early part of the year but ready for Oscar battle come late November thru early January. Click on read more, below, for the title of the Oscar favourite, as well as the titles and trailers for a few other films that will provide value for your hard-earned dollar this holiday season.
The King’s Speech: The odds on favourite to win the Best Picture Oscar come Sunday, February 27, 2011, with a seemingly guaranteed Oscar win for Colin Firth starring as Britain’s beleaguered King George VI, The King’s Speech opens in wide release on Friday, December 10th. Anglophiles, and many of the rest of us, can hardly wait to see this surefire Oscar contender.
The Fighter: The latest from bad boy director David O. Russell (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees), starring Mark Wahlberg in the title role and an all star cast with Academy Award nominees Melissa Leo (apparently, a lock for a Best Supporting Oscar nod for her work here), VanRamblings’ ‘can-do-no-wrong’ favourite Amy Adams and Christian Bale, among others, The Fighter opens Friday, December 17th (it’s gonna be a busy box office weekend). So many Hollywood films relate stories of the middle and upper classes. With The Fighter, we’ll get a gritty, life on the streets human scale drama. Verdict? Another must-see film this holiday season. trailer
Somewhere: Top prize winner of the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival, Sofia Coppola’s latest is the film VanRamblings is most looking forward to this holiday season. Due late December / early January.
Blue Valentine: Recently awarded a controversial NC 17 rating by the MPAA (which, among other things, means that you’re not going to see a lot of advertising for this film), the buzz on Derek Cianfrance’s relationship drama is hot, as is word on the performances of co-stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. No word on a release date as of this writing. trailer
The Way Back: Epic filmmaking of the sort we are rarely afforded the opportunity to see in our local multiplexes, director Peter Weir (Witness, Master and Commander) has reportedly made a visually splendid, fact-based story centered on soldiers who escaped from a Siberian gulag in 1940 that will be must-viewing this holiday season. trailer
Another Year: Having recently screened to sold out houses at our Vancouver Film Festival, although the latest film from British director Mike Leigh (Naked, Secrets and Lies) won’t make its way back to our shores until early January, it will get a December release in New York and Los Angeles to give star Lesley Manville a shot at a Best Actress Oscar. trailer
Black Swan: Perhaps the most talked about film this holiday season, reportedly director Darren Aronofsky’s masterpiece, with a dynamic, Oscar worthy performance by Natalie Portman at its centre, Black Swan opens in limited release on Friday, December 10th, and oughta make it to your local multiplex sometime later in the month. We can hardly wait to see it!
How Do You Know: From Academy Award winning director James L. Brooks (Broadcast News, As Good As It Gets), here’s a synopsis of the story: feeling a bit past her prime at 27, former athlete Lisa Jorgenson (Reese Witherspoon) finds herself in the middle of a love triangle, as a corporate guy (Paul Rudd) in crisis competes with Lisa’s current, baseball-playing beau (Owen Wilson). Oh, and did we mention that Jack Nicholson also stars? You’re gonna want to see this one. Opens Friday, December 17th. trailer
Rabbit Hole: Although Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells refers to Rabbit Hole as The Griefersons, according to most of the critics who caught Rabbit Hole at the Toronto Film Festival there’s just no denying that Nicole Kidman gives her strongest performance to date, and will figure in the Oscar sweepstakes. Set for a December 24th release date in Vancouver.
Of course, not every film that will find its way into your local multiplex over the course of the next eight weeks will be Oscar bait. But as was the case with Crazy Heart last year, which garnered a long overdue Best Actor Oscar for Jeff Bridges and a Best Supporting Actress nod for a deserving Maggie Gyllenhall, one never can tell which film will come out of the blue and surprise the Academy with its Oscar worthiness, and garner awards gold.
At this point, there are two films which are vying for the late entry Oscar bait sweepstakes, Gwyneth Paltrow’s latest, Country Strong (Jan. 7) …
and, the Halle Berry produced Frankie and Alice (Feb. 4!), for which we have no video (when we do, we’ll post it; here’s some first look photos, tho, and a couple of movie clips that are available on YouTube: Clip 1 and Clip 2). Update : Finally, the trailer for Frankie and Alice, from Rope of Silicon.
And, finally, a few films we’re looking forward to seeing, whether they’re Oscar bait or not, there’s at least a degree of watchability …
I Love You Phillip Morris: Long delayed, much anticipated, politically incorrect and way, way out there, Jim Carrey’s latest film (also starring Ewan McGregor) will finally make its way to a theatre near you in December.
Lets’ face it, VanRamblings doesn’t attend cinema because we don’t want to be challenged or because we want to watch the cinematic equivalent of pablum, we want to be challenged as well as entertained, we want to be moved, to tears or laughter, or both. For VanRamblings, the theatre is our church, where we seek spiritual guidance and transcendence. That said …
We are looking forward to taking in screenings of films that are not, per sé, Oscar bait, but look intriguing enough to warrant spending a few dollars …
Sure, The Company Men seems to be channeling the ‘feel good / meeting the challenges’ drama genre, but look at that all-star cast: Chris Cooper, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Rosemarie DeWitt. Here’s a movie worth seeing for the performances alone.
Sad to say, we were unthrilled with Roger Michell’s Morning Glory — which opens Wednesday — despite Jeffrey Wells’ effusive praise for what we feel is a pedestrian, not overly well made or written film (we also think that Harrison Ford is miscast as a broadcaster, hardly measuring up to William Hurt’s performance in Broadcast News). Rachel McAdams is fun, though.
Opening Friday, Tony Scott (Man on Fire) re-teams with Denzel Washington for his latest blockbuster, Unstoppable, which most critics are praising.
