Jennifer Lawrence and her Hunger Games pals celebrated the release of Mockingjay – Part 2, while Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara and more hit the red carpet for the premiere of Carol. Also, there was The Night Before, featuring a couple of comely ugly Christmas sweaters. Check out photos:
This week at the movies, we’ve got creepy grandparents (The Visit, starring Kathryn Hahn and Ed Oxenbould), a dangerous charmer (The Perfect Guy, starring Sanaa Lathan and Michael Ealy), and a miraculous resurgence (90 Minutes in Heaven, starring Hayden Christensen and Kate Bosworth). What do the critics have to say?
Since the runaway success of The Sixth Sense, director M. Night Shyamalan‘s career has certainly had its share of ups and (mostly) downs. However, critics say The Visit is a solid return to form, an oddball horror/comedy that doesn’t always work but surprises and shocks more often than not. It’s the story of two siblings who are invited to spend some time at their grandparents’ remote farmhouse, which our teenage heroes quickly discover is a bastion of eccentric, unnerving behavior. The pundits say The Visit is uneven, but its loose-limbed blend of laughs and scares results in Shyamalan’s most purely enjoyable big screen effort in years.
The Perfect Guy wasn’t screened for critics, so we currently have no way of knowing whether this latest take on the Fatal Attraction template achieves perfection. Sanaa Lathan stars as a lovelorn woman who meets a handsome stranger (Michael Ealy) who seems too good to be true, but a series of bizarre incidents leaves our heroine wondering who she can trust. Guess the Tomatometer!
A faith-based drama boasting a strong cast, 90 Minutes in Heaven was barely screened for critics prior to its release in theaters. Hayden Christensen stars as a minister who is involved in a devastating auto accident; pronounced dead at the scene, he reawakens with a miraculous tale of a visit to the hereafter. Once again, feel free to guess the Tomatometer!
Smart, energetic, and a little bit silly, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert succeeds largely due to the charisma of its host, whose confident debut promises a bright future for the revamped show.
Expertly balancing character growth against edgy humor, You’re the Worst elevates the show’s excellent writing and talented cast to a new level.
Hand of God boasts a talented cast and intriguing premise, but neither are enough to overcome a resounding lack of meaningful drama or impactful thrills.
Also Opening This Week In Limited Release
This week at the movies, we’ve got gridiron giggles (Leatherheads, starring George Clooney and Renée Zellweger), isle imagination (Nim’s Island, starring Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin), and archeological anxiety (The Ruins, starring Shawn Ashmore and Jena Malone). What do the critics have to say?
George Clooney gets compared to Cary Grant all the time, so it’s only natural he would try his hand at Grant’s prime métier — the screwball comedy. Unfortunately, critics say the football laffer Leatherheads, in which Clooney stars and directs, is something of a mixed bag. Set in the early days of pro-pigskin (in the days when college was king), Leatherheads tells the tale of the struggling, ragtag Duluth squad, which has scored a major coup by tapping a college gridiron hero (played by John Krasinski) to team with aging pro Dodge Connolly (Clooney); however, the team is also under fire from an aggressive beat reporter (Renée Zellweger). The pundits say Leatherheads is a funny, amiable affair, but it could take some pointers from the no-huddle offense, which, like screwball comedy, emphasizes quick thinking, deft interaction, and risk. At 54 percent on the Tomatometer, Leatherheads is being thrown for a loss. And it’s Clooney’s worst-reviewed directorial effort to date — well below Good Night and Good Luck‘s 94 percent. (Check out our interview with George Clooney here.)
A sort of Swiss Family Robinson crossed with Indiana Jones, the critics say Nim’s Island is solid family fare — with the pros and cons that implies. Abigail Breslin stars as Nim, a precocious girl who lives on a South Pacific island with her father (Gerard Butler), a scientist; when he goes missing, Nim turns to the hero of her favorite book (also played by Butler) — and the tome’s author (Jodie Foster) — for help. Critics say Nim’s Island has an old-fashioned sense of wonder and adventure — as well as a healthy dose of girl power — that makes for an above-average kids’ adventure. But they also note the movie offers a predictable storyline and some hackneyed slapstick. Nim’s Island currently stands at 48 percent on the Tomatomenter. (Take a look at a clip from the film here.)
It appears the folks behind The Ruins feared its critical reputation would be left in ruins, since it was barely screened before its release. Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, and Shawn Ashmore star in this tale of a group of tourists who find danger lurking at a remote archaeological site — an obvious oversight by the Lonely Planet people. Kids, take your noses out of that atlas and guess the Tomatometer!
Also opening this week in limited release:
The French import Water Lilies, a delicate coming-of-age drama involving a trio of middle school girls, is at 90 percent (check out our take from Cannes here);
Jellyfish, which follows three Israeli women as their lives intersect at a wedding reception, is at 87 percent;
Shine a Light, Martin Scorsese‘s document of the Rolling Stones live (with special guests like Jack White and Christina Aguilera), is at 82 percent (check out this week’s Total Recall for a look at some of Scorsese’s lesser-known work);
Flight of the Red Balloon, Hou Hsiao-hsien‘s remake of the French classic starring Juliette Binoche, is at 69 percent;
Wong Kar-Wai‘s latest, My Blueberry Nights starring Norah Jones, Jude Law, and Natalie Portman, is at 49 percent (check out our take here, and our interview with Jones here);
And Sex and Death 101, a black comedy starring Winona Ryder and Simon Baker, is at 40 percent.
And finally, props to Grendel-san for correctly guessing Superhero Movie‘s 17 percent Tomatometer, presumably while doing battle with Beowulf-san. One question for ya, G.S: is it hard to type with only one arm?
Recent Jodie Foster Movies:
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43% — The Brave One (2007)
87% — Inside Man (2006)
38% — Flightplan (2005)
77% — A Very Long Engagement (2004)
77% — The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)
Recent George Clooney Movies:
—————————————–
91% — Michael Clayton (2007)
70% — Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)
33% — The Good German (2006)
73% — Syriana (2005)
94% — Good Night and Good Luck (2005)
Just when you think awards season can’t get any awards-ier, here come two more sets of nominations!
First up, we have Film Independent’s Spirit Awards, which have earned the distinction of being granted a strike waiver from the Writers Guild of America. Rainn Wilson — otherwise known as Dwight Schrute on NBC’s The Office — will host and help write the ceremony, which airs on IFC February 23. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, this “raises the possibility that the informal Spirit ceremony, which takes place in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, could upstage the 80th annual Academy Awards.” A partial list of the Spirit nominees follows, with Tomatometers in parentheses:
Best Feature:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (95 percent)
I’m Not There (81 percent)
Juno (94 percent)
A Mighty Heart (77 percent)
Paranoid Park (62 percent)
Best Director:
Todd Haynes, I’m Not There (81 percent)
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages (89 percent)
Jason Reitman, Juno
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Gus Van Sant, Paranoid Park
Best Screenplay:
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
Fred Parnes & Andrew Wagner, Starting Out in the Evening (82 percent)
Adrienne Shelly, Waitress (89 percent)
Mike White, Year of the Dog (70 percent)
Best Female Lead:
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Sienna Miller, Interview (57 percent)
Ellen Page, Juno
Parker Posey, Broken English (63 percent)
Wei Tang, Lust, Caution (64 percent)
Best Supporting Female:
Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Anna Kendrick, Rocket Science (85 percent)
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Margot at the Wedding (56 percent)
Tamara Podemski, Four Sheets to the Wind (100 percent)
Marisa Tomei, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (88 percent)
Best Male Lead:
Pedro Castaneda, August Evening
Don Cheadle, Talk to Me (81 percent)
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages
Tony Leung, Lust, Caution
Frank Langella, Starting Out in the Evening
Best Supporting Male:
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Talk to Me
Marcus Carl Franklin, I’m Not There
Kene Holliday, Great World of Sound (86 percent)
Irrfan Khan, The Namesake (85 percent)
Steve Zahn, Rescue Dawn (91 percent)
Best Cinematography:
Mott Hupfel, The Savages
Janusz Kaminski, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Milton Kam, Vanaja (81 percent)
Mihai Malaimare, Jr., Youth Without Youth (33 percent)
Rodrigo Prieto, Lust, Caution
Best Documentary:
Crazy Love (78 percent)
Lake of Fire (94 percent)
Manufactured Landscapes (83 percent)
The Monastery
The Prisoner Or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair (86 percent)
Best Foreign Film:
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (93 percent)
The Band’s Visit (100 percent)
Lady Chatterly (74 percent)
Once (98 percent)
Persepolis (97 percent)
Meanwhile, the nominees for the 14th annual SAG Awards — also granted a WGA waiver for its ceremony, set to take place January 27 at the Shrine Expo in Los Angeles — have been announced. Film nominees follow below, with Tomatometers in parentheses:
Male Actor in a Leading Role:
George Clooney, Michael Clayton (90 percent)
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood (93 percent)
Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl (78 percent)
Emile Hirsch, Into The Wild (82 percent)
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises (88 percent)
Female Actor in a Leading Role:
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age (34 percent)
Julie Christie, Away From Her (94 percent)
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose (74 percent)
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Ellen Page, Juno
Male Actor in a Supporting Role:
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (75 percent)
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men (95 percent)
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tommy Lee Jones, No Country for Old Men
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton
Female Actor in a Supprting Role:
Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster (79 percent)
Catherine Keener, Into the Wild
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone (93 percent)
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture:
3:10 to Yuma (87 percent): Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol, Dallas Roberts, Vinessa Shaw, Ben Foster, Alan Tudyk, Logan Lerman
American Gangster: Armand Assante, Josh Brolin, Russell Crowe, Ruby Dee, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Idris Elba, Cuba Gooding Jr., Carla Gugino, John Hawkes, Ted Levine, Joe Morton, Lymari Nadal, John Ortiz, RZA, Yul Vasquez, Denzel Washington
Hairspray (92 percent): Nikki Blonsky, Amanda Bynes, Paul Dooley, Zac Efron, Allison Janney, Elijah Kelley, James Marsden, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah, Brittany Snow, Jerry Stiller, John Travolta, Christopher Walken
Into the Wild: Brian Dierker, Marcia Gay Harden, Emile Hirsch, Hal Holbrook, William Hurt, Catherine Keener, Jena Malone, Kristen Stewart, Vince Vaughn
No Country for Old Men: Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Garrett Dillahunt, Tess Harper, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Kelly MacDonald
Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture:
300 (60 percent)
The Bourne Ultimatum (93 percent)
I Am Legend (63 percent)
The Kingdom (52 percent)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (45 percent)
All the happy waiver vibes at the Spirits and SAGs stands in marked contrast to the budding panic surrounding the Golden Globes, where confusion over whether the ceremony will be attended by any stars — or whether it’ll even go on — is wreaking havoc on party planners’ year-end schedules.
As Variety reports, the growing consensus is that the ceremony won’t happen, but — in the words of an unnamed studio executive — “Nobody wants to be the first person to drop out.” From the article:
“Everyone is calling around trying to find out what everyone is doing,” one planner said.
“It’s all going to come down to: Can the Globes come up with a feasible plan that the talent is comfortable with and don’t have to cross a picket line?” another planner said. “And I don’t know what that is.”
Source: Spirit Awards
Source: Hollywood Reporter (Spirits waiver story)
Source: Hollywood Reporter (SAG Awards)
Source: Variety (Globes story)
