If you’re both a movie fan and a consummate statistician, it’s easy to love and appreciate the Oscars for shoehorning the majority of film history into a manageable grading rubric. I’m an Oscar apologist myself, and I still have one bone to pick with the Academy — and all award-spewing organizations: the unnecessary reliance on gender-based categories. Is it not more thrilling to pit all actors against each other? Is there such an objective difference between Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock? Meryl Streep and Robert Downey Jr.? “Actor” is a gender-neutral term, and I think we’d all better off — and better entertained — without the meaningless siphoning. Thus, I’m stacking up the best performances of 2011 without categorical regard for gender or role size. It’s a winner-take-all affair, and this winner definitely wants it all. Here’s my top 10:
From Liam Neeson’s authoritative voice to Ralph Fiennes’ villain, we glimpse what’s in store for the ‘Clash of the Titans’ sequel. By Kara Warner Sam Worthington in “Wrath of the Titans” Photo: Warner Bros. The last time we caught up with Perseus ( Sam Worthington ), Zeus ( Liam Neeson ), Hades ( Ralph Fiennes ) and Co. in 2010’s “Clash of the Titans,” the gods were playing around with human lives, the Kraken was released and destroyed, and Perseus was asked to join the ranks on Mount Olympus. And although we’ve long known about the film’s sequel “Wrath of the Titans,” we haven’t had a clear look at what we’ll be getting into when it opens next March, until now. The “Wrath of the Titans” trailer is here and it is an action-packed extravaganza of sword slinging, monster-fighting excellence. Here are the five key elements we took away from the two-minute clip: When Liam Neeson Speaks, People Listen Oscar winner Liam Neeson is a perfect leader of things in film. He just has a natural gravitas and stature to make it work every time. Neeson as Zeus is a perfect example, and in the “Wrath” trailer, he uses that captivating narrator voice of his to tell the audience everything we need to know about the plot: “We Gods are losing our power. We believed the Titans to be imprisoned forever, now they’re breaking free.” His voice carries over shots of various Titans landing in various places and starting to wreak havoc. “It would mean chaos,” he says with feeling. “The end of the world.” Perseus vs. Everyone So how do we prevent the end of this world? With Perseus, of course, the demi-god descendent of Zeus himself, who saved the day in the first movie and will likely be doing the same in the second. Perseus is basically fighting various elements, monsters, gods and humans throughout the trailer, so when Zeus tells his son, “You will learn someday that being half human makes you stronger than a god,” we have to believe him because how else could he survive such beatings? Awesome CG Everything While fans of the 1981 original “Clash of the Titans” may remember the film most fondly for its camp factor and Claymation effects, there is no room for those in the reboots. Judging by the sleek and sophisticated design we see here in the trailer, i.e., the sonic boom blast following a god’s descent to earth, Hades in the Underworld, Cyclops, scary winged beasts, etc., “Wrath of the Titans” will be a feast for the eyes and fans of highly stylized CG. Andromeda Gets In On the Action? Everyone loves a beautiful femme fatale, one of Greek mythology’s favorite through lines, but we can all agree that it’s more fun when a female lead gets in on the action. Rosamund Pike has taken over the role of Andromeda in “Wrath,” and from the looks of things, wielding a sword, for instance, she might have more to do in this one than getting helplessly tied to a rock. Ralph Fiennes Should Only Play Villains How much do we love Ralph Fiennes as a villain? See his Oscar-nominated performance in “Schindler’s List” and his brilliance as He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named in the “Harry Potter” franchise. Fiennes makes his villains look as terrible as they are fun to play. His one line in this trailer is delivered with the perfect combination of calm, confidence and cool we’ve come to know and love: “You’re sweating like a human. Next, it will be tears.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Wrath of the Titans.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
Ralph Fiennes’s sweeping Coriolanus arrives this weekend. See that shit. Fiennes whips up a batch of thundering personal conflict, the kind that made Quiz Show so awesome, and Vanessa Redgrave gives a supporting performance far worthier of an Oscar than her work in Julia . She is angst and fury. She’s like Coriolanus Morissette up there. But if Shakespearean seriousness isn’t your thing, please circle back to 2001 when Mekhi Phifer, Julia Stiles and Josh Hartnett served up a Shakespearean telenovela in O , based on Othello . Hope you like hip-hop, opera and Josh Hartnett’s “evil” face, because this movie is a green-eyed monster that’s trying so hard not to be funny.
Helena Bonham Carter’s upcoming turn as Miss Havisham in Mike Newell’s adaptation of Dickens’s Great Expectations is going to be a decadent one: In new photos from the film (set to debut in fall 2012), the Oscar nominee is fully made up as the manipulative spinster from the literary classic, and she’s wearing an original design by costumer Beatrix Aruna Pasztor. Though Carter appears younger than other actresses who’ve played Miss Havisham, the photos are just as crazy you’d expect. And sinister. And they call to mind 10 images that I thought I’d long repressed. Here they are — some are less hallucinogenic than others.
By virtually any Hollywood standard, even if another film featuring Jessica Chastain weren’t released in 2011 after this week, she’d have already had a pretty phenomenally successful rookie year in the business.
I’m always nervous for adaptations of less-appreciated Shakespearean works. If you’re going to mount, say, Titus Andronicus , you have to find a way to make the violence meaningful. If you’re heading up a Tempest reboot , you have to deal with the extraneous fourth act elegantly. And if you’re reworking Coriolanus , you have to — well — find a way to make it interesting. Luckily, Ralph Fiennes is summoning his Amon Goeth fury in the poster for the new Weinstein adaptation, and Gerard Butler looks tough as his adversary. Excited?
In this weekend’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 , Ralph Fiennes reprises his role as Lord Voldemort , the noseless, screamy “Dark Lord” archenemy of our bespectacled box office hero Harry Potter. How did the English Oscar-nominee transform himself from chilling Nazi war criminal to a J. Lo love interest and back again to another kind of purity-seeking evildoer?
The next James Bond movie will hit theaters in November 9, 2012. Who will join Daniel Craig in 007’s next adventure? Sources now confirm that Naomie Harris ( 28 Days Later , Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ) will come on board as the classic character of Moneypenny, M’s assistant at MI6. She’s appeared in over 20 installments of this franchise. Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes have also booked roles in the film. The former will portray Bond’s nemesis, while insiders simply say Fiennes will take on a “darkly complex” character. He’s had some practice with that as Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies. [Photos: WENN.com, Fame Pictures]
Also in this Friday edition of The Broadsheet: Ben Affleck lines up his next directorial effort with help from George Clooney… Bond 23 potentially adds another heavy hitter… Lone Star ‘s Kyle Killen gets another shot… and more ahead.
The latest boy-wizard flick sets franchise record. By Mawuse Ziegbe Ralph Fiennes in Harry Potter and the “Deathly Hallows – Part 1” Photo: Warner Bros. With the “Harry Potter” film series winding down, fans rushed to theaters to give the wizard adventure series a huge send-off. The seventh movie in the fantasy franchise, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,” opened with a fairy-tale figure of $125.1 million over the weekend. The flick powered through the past two days with stunning momentum, picking up $24 million at midnight screenings Friday and zooming to $61 million by the end of the day. The tally sets a record for the series, blasting through the previous “Harry Potter” opening-weekend, box-office benchmark of $102.7 million set by 2005’s “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” “Megamind” continued its comfortable fun in the top five, finishing the weekend in second place. The Will Ferrell and Tina Fey comedy about the antics of a CG supervillain rang up $16.2 million. The movie’s total estimated haul now stands at about $109 million. “Unstoppable,” arrived in third place. Audiences shelled out $13.1 million over the weekend to catch Denzel Washington and Chris Pine’s runaway-train thriller. The film’s tally now stands at around $42 million after its second weekend in theaters. “Due Date” wrapped up the weekend in fourth place. The comedic pairing of Zach Galifianakis and Robert Downey Jr. netted about $9.2 million, which bumps this film’s total gross to around $72 million. Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks’ jailbreak action flick, “The Next Three Days,” hit theaters in fifth place. Moviegoers plunked down around $6.8 million during the film’s debut weekend. Check out everything we’ve got on “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,” “Megamind” and “Unstoppable” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. Related Videos ‘Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 1’ Clips Related Photos ‘Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows’ Premieres In NYC ‘Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 1’
