Less inferno than slow burn, Rob Zombie’s retro witch thriller The Lords of Salem has plenty of portent but not much payoff. Likely to disappoint die-hard fans of The Devil’s Rejects and other Zombie atrocities, this milder brew still has ’70s-esque style to spare and sports a likable lead perf by Sheri Moon Zombie as a DJ seemingly spun by Satan’s spawn into the lower depths. Theatrical play will pale beside the pic’s ancillary afterlife, although “Lords” isn’t potent enough to rule in either realm. With torture porn having been snuffed out many moons ago, Zombie hasn’t picked a bad time to tone himself down. Still, as even PG-rated horror has a duty to deliver on some level, the helmer’s narrative dead end here registers not as a lack of nerve so much as a lack of imagination. Following a tongue-in-cheek prologue set in the late 1600s and showing a witches’ coven getting burned to a crisp, we arrive in the present day, which for Zombie looks and sounds a helluva lot like 1974. Recovering addict Heidi ( Sheri Moon Zombie in blond dreadlocks), who lives in a rundown Boston apartment, and co-host of the latenight “Salem Rocks” show, thinks she sees someone or something moving around the unrented unit down the hall. Then at work, she gets an ancient-looking vinyl platter from a band called the Lords that freaks her out even more. Full of cacophonous bow-sawing and mumbled incantations, this patently avant-garde long-player goes out over the airwaves and puts even listeners at home in a trance. Several scares later and poor Heidi is back on the crackpipe, making it tough for the viewer to tell whether her subsequent visions of the damned are drug-induced or directed by a force even more malevolent than Zombie. Meanwhile, the exhaustive research of occult scholar Francis Matthais ( Bruce Davison ) puts him in the company of three middle-aged women ( Patricia Quinn, Dee Wallace, Judy Geeson ) so antiquatedly hospitable, they could pass as pure evil in some quarters. All of this builds to Heidi being transported by some means or another to 17th-century Salem but not much farther, as the pic simply poops out around the 90-minute mark, leaving an end-credits sequence where an ending ought to be. In terms of tech credits, The Lords of Salem has its virtues. A handful of setpieces come on like vintage Ken Russell , with Sheri Moon Zombie, her face painted a ghostly white, looking like a human sacrifice or Marilyn Manson groupie . Brandon Trost’s color-bleached widescreen cinematography is particularly well suited to rendering the heroine’s dingy abode and the city’s autumnal chill. Zombie, having proven himself a connoisseur of gloomy ’60s and ’70s pop rock, here delivers another killer playlist, although his pick of the Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs” seems a touch obvious. More on The Lords of Salem: INTERVIEW: Rob Zombie Says ‘The Lords of Salem’ Is ‘Pretty Out There’ But ‘The Walking Dead’ Is Not Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Less inferno than slow burn, Rob Zombie’s retro witch thriller The Lords of Salem has plenty of portent but not much payoff. Likely to disappoint die-hard fans of The Devil’s Rejects and other Zombie atrocities, this milder brew still has ’70s-esque style to spare and sports a likable lead perf by Sheri Moon Zombie as a DJ seemingly spun by Satan’s spawn into the lower depths. Theatrical play will pale beside the pic’s ancillary afterlife, although “Lords” isn’t potent enough to rule in either realm. With torture porn having been snuffed out many moons ago, Zombie hasn’t picked a bad time to tone himself down. Still, as even PG-rated horror has a duty to deliver on some level, the helmer’s narrative dead end here registers not as a lack of nerve so much as a lack of imagination. Following a tongue-in-cheek prologue set in the late 1600s and showing a witches’ coven getting burned to a crisp, we arrive in the present day, which for Zombie looks and sounds a helluva lot like 1974. Recovering addict Heidi ( Sheri Moon Zombie in blond dreadlocks), who lives in a rundown Boston apartment, and co-host of the latenight “Salem Rocks” show, thinks she sees someone or something moving around the unrented unit down the hall. Then at work, she gets an ancient-looking vinyl platter from a band called the Lords that freaks her out even more. Full of cacophonous bow-sawing and mumbled incantations, this patently avant-garde long-player goes out over the airwaves and puts even listeners at home in a trance. Several scares later and poor Heidi is back on the crackpipe, making it tough for the viewer to tell whether her subsequent visions of the damned are drug-induced or directed by a force even more malevolent than Zombie. Meanwhile, the exhaustive research of occult scholar Francis Matthais ( Bruce Davison ) puts him in the company of three middle-aged women ( Patricia Quinn, Dee Wallace, Judy Geeson ) so antiquatedly hospitable, they could pass as pure evil in some quarters. All of this builds to Heidi being transported by some means or another to 17th-century Salem but not much farther, as the pic simply poops out around the 90-minute mark, leaving an end-credits sequence where an ending ought to be. In terms of tech credits, The Lords of Salem has its virtues. A handful of setpieces come on like vintage Ken Russell , with Sheri Moon Zombie, her face painted a ghostly white, looking like a human sacrifice or Marilyn Manson groupie . Brandon Trost’s color-bleached widescreen cinematography is particularly well suited to rendering the heroine’s dingy abode and the city’s autumnal chill. Zombie, having proven himself a connoisseur of gloomy ’60s and ’70s pop rock, here delivers another killer playlist, although his pick of the Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs” seems a touch obvious. More on The Lords of Salem: INTERVIEW: Rob Zombie Says ‘The Lords of Salem’ Is ‘Pretty Out There’ But ‘The Walking Dead’ Is Not Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Consciously evoking the structure and iconography of MGM’s classic The Wizard of Oz without attempting to rival its impact, Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful can be enjoyed, up to a point, on its own colorful, diverting but finally rather futile terms. Offering an eye-tickling but gaudily depersonalized Land of Oz populated by younger, sexier versions of well-known characters (most incongruously the Wicked Witch of the West), this elaborate exercise in visual Baum-bast nonetheless gets some mileage out of its game performances, luscious production design and the unfettered enthusiasm director Sam Raimi brings to a thin, simplistic origin story. The smash success of Wicked , the stage tuner adapted from Gregory Maguire’s much more intricate and morally complicated Oz prequel, showed that L. Frank Baum’s richly imagined universe still holds significant interest for audiences worldwide. With its culturally resonant imagery, state-of-the-art technology and strong family appeal, Disney’s first excursion into this realm since Walter Murch’s Return to Oz nearly 30 years ago should enjoy a hefty yellow-brick load in theatrical release that will only be amplified by 3D ticket premiums and bountiful ancillary opportunities. Abundant indicators of commercial success and faultless production values aside, there’s a persistent sense of artifice here, something admittedly not lost on a story that’s very much about the power of technology and the magic inherent in a skillfully executed illusion. Yet it still rings hollow in a way that prevents full surrender, leaving the viewer with an immediate desire to revisit the still-wondrous 1939 film and, to a lesser extent, the original Baum novels credited as the inspiration for Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire’s screenplay. (The filmmakers had to navigate a veritable poppy field of legal issues to steer clear of copyrighted and trademarked elements from the MGM film, now owned by Warner Bros.) Although Dorothy is nowhere in sight, attentive listeners will catch a fleeting reference to her origins in the film’s exquisite prologue, which, a la The Wizard of Oz , unfolds on a windy strip of Kansas prairie. Rendered in black-and-white and framed in Academy ratio, the sequence works as a luminous standalone tribute to the wonders of old-fashioned trickery and showmanship as practiced by traveling circus magician Oscar Diggs ( James Franco ), whose vaudeville-style act is a marvel of wires, trapdoors, faux hypnosis and do-it-yourself sound effects. Oscar is a handsome rogue, a sly con artist, and an expert levitator and seducer of women, qualities that will prove at once crucial and dangerous when a twister blows his hot-air balloon off course and deposits him in the vibrant-colored Land of Oz, where no fewer than three beautiful and powerful witches wind up vying for his attention. These include the naive, emotionally susceptible Theodora (Mila Kunis); her older, colder sister, Evanora (Rachel Weisz); and their sworn nemesis, Glinda (Michelle Williams), a beauteous blonde whose motives are initially shrouded in secrecy. Crucial to these women’s competing agendas is the question of whether Oscar is the all-powerful wizard who, as prophesied, will ascend to the throne of the Emerald City and deliver Oz from evil. Disney’s marketing campaign has worked to generate some suspense over the question of who will eventually become the Wicked Witch of the West, although even modestly Oz-savvy viewers will have no trouble guessing which witch is which before the truth is revealed halfway through. Suffice it to say that the transformation is poorly motivated at best, and the unlucky girl in question, sporting not only the requisite green skin but also an eyeful of cleavage, seems a better candidate for top honors at a West Hollywood Halloween bash than for the mantle of Margaret Hamilton. Such comparisons to The Wizard of Oz are not only unavoidable but actively invited by Raimi’s film, which, within its legal restrictions, carefully mimics its 1939 forebear — from the early monochrome-to-color shift signaling that we’re not in Kansas anymore to the device of having key supporting characters pop up on both sides of the proverbial rainbow. To their credit, scribes Kapner and Lindsay-Abaire have taken pains to incorporate previously unfilmed elements from Baum’s original work. Pointedly in this version, Glinda hails from the South, not the North; the (racially diversified) Munchkins are joined by the similarly friendly but lesser-known Quadlings; and a key role is played by the fragile, all-porcelain China Girl (Joey King), who joins Oscar and his benign winged-monkey companion, Finley (voiced by Zach Braff), on their journey. Quite apart from the question of whether the picture lives up to its various inspirations, however, Oz the Great and Powerful finally falls short by dint of a too-timid imagination. In straining for an all-ages simplicity, the script comes off as merely banal, full of flat, repetitive dialogue about who’s good, who’s wicked and, most incessantly, whether Oscar is a real wizard, an opportunistic scoundrel or perhaps both. Not until the third act does the film start to jell, with a couple of arresting setpieces that neatly demonstrate how pluck, resourcefulness and an endless supply of tricks can equal, and even overcome, real magic. Raimi’s genre credentials made him as ideal a match for this production as any, and he attacks the material with palpable vigor, countering the thinness of the story with visuals that can feel by turns excessive and transporting. Gary Jones and Michael Kutsche’s lovingly detailed costumes and Robert Stromberg’s multihued sets take on an almost radioactive glow in Peter Deming’s widescreen cinematography, and the use of tracking and crane shots is inspired, the camera pulling back on occasion to observe the action at a painterly remove. This marks the first time Raimi has worked with the stereoscopic format, and he’s applied it with abundant care and precision. Bob Murawski’s editing meshes seamlessly with the 3D-lensed imagery to produce a fluid, genuinely multidimensional experience whose eye-popping effects — a swirl of fog rolling out of the frame; blossoms that turn out to be butterflies — are executed with an enchanting dexterity and playfulness. In a real sense, Oz the Great and Powerful has a certain kinship with George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels, in the way it presents a beautiful but borderline-sterile digital update of a world that was richer, purer and a lot more fun in lower-tech form. Here, too, the actors often look artificially superimposed against their CG backdrops, though the intensity of the fakery generates its own visual fascination. The indie experiments with which Franco has been recently preoccupied lend an interesting subtext to his casting as a genial humbug, and the actor fills the Wizard’s shoes, vest and top hat with slippery, ingratiating charm. Among the three witches, Kunis’ Theodora is a bit lacking in dramatic stature; Weisz’s Evanora strikes the right notes of icy ambition; and Williams, who has rarely looked more radiant onscreen, is a bewitching presence indeed, making Glinda more than just another bubblehead.
What begins as a barbed satire of our pill-popping, self-medicating society morphs into something intriguingly different in Side Effects . Steven Soderbergh’s elegantly coiled puzzler spins a tale of clinical depression and psychiatric malpractice into an absorbing, cunningly unpredictable entertainment that, like much of his recent work, closely observes how a particular subset of American society operates in a needy, greedy, paranoid and duplicitous age. Discriminating arthouse audiences not turned off by the antidepressant-heavy subject matter should be held shrink-rapt by what Soderbergh, after years of flirting with retirement, has said will be his last picture “for a long time.” Establishing a mood of grim foreboding with a brief glimpse of a blood-spattered domestic scene, the film rewinds three months to the incident that sets things in motion. Emily Taylor ( Rooney Mara ), a New Yorker in her mid-20s, awaits the prison release of her husband, Martin ( Channing Tatum ), a former business exec who has just finished serving four years for his involvement in an insider-trading scheme. But the couple’s happy reunion is complicated not only by Martin’s period of readjustment and unemployment, but also by Emily’s ongoing struggles with anxiety and depression. The story is thus immediately rooted in an easily recognizable and, for some, relatable world of financial difficulty and pharmaceutical overreliance. After Emily’s condition declines to the point of attempting self-harm, she sees a psychiatrist, Dr. Jonathan Banks ( Jude Law) , who puts her on a try-this-try-that regimen of drugs that include Prozac, Zoloft and Ablixa. The names of these antidepressants and their assorted side effects are rattled off with cheeky proficiency in the well-researched script by Scott Z. Burns (“Contagion,” “The Informant!”), and soon Emily starts to manifest the byproducts of so much medication, including nausea, a heightened libido and a disturbing habit of sleepwalking. Soderbergh’s sinuous HD camerawork (done under his usual pseudonym, Peter Andrews) maintains an unnervingly intimate focus on Emily in these early passages, dominated by breakdowns and consulting sessions. Yet even in intense closeups that enable Mara to vividly register Emily’s panic, fear and vaguely suicidal impulses, the direction has a certain cool-toned detachment that keeps the film from becoming a wholly subjective portrait of mental instability. That distanced quality persists even when Emily’s behavior, under the influence of Ablixa, takes a shocking turn for the worst. At this point, the dramatic perspective shifts to Banks, who suddenly finds himself professionally compromised as a provocative question comes to the fore: If a patient is not responsible for actions taken under the influence of a powerful drug, does the liability shift to the doctor who prescribed it? But as Banks launches himself into an increasingly obsessive quest to clear his name, leading him into private conversations with Emily’s former therapist, Dr. Victoria Siebel ( Catherine Zeta-Jones ), the peculiar feeling persists that not everything about the case may be what it seems. The very title of Side Effects — a suggestion of unintended, undesired consequences that distract from the matter at hand — provides a clue as to the level of narrative misdirection Soderbergh and Burns are up to. Suffice to say that what the film is actually about, and the specific social malaise being diagnosed, suddenly seem to shift beneath the characters’ feet, as the story turns its attention from chemical dependencies and shaky medical ethics to the dark recesses of the human mind. The rapid-fire twists, reversals and flashbacks that crowd the third act may strain plausibility to the breaking point, but by the end, viewers are likely to feel as though they’ve been craftily but not unfairly manipulated. The casting of Soderbergh alums Law, Zeta-Jones and Tatum lends the picture a somewhat valedictory feel, and if Side Effects is indeed the final chapter of at least one phase of the director’s career, it gets the job done in modest but assured fashion. Thematically, this efficient genre piece feels entirely of a piece with Soderbergh’s prior work; no less than Magic Mike and The Girlfriend Experience , it’s keenly invested in the material question of how individuals operate in an economy that leaves them with fewer and fewer honest options. The film’s careful attention to the details of its psychiatric milieu compels fascination above and beyond the characters, and indeed, Soderbergh’s typical disinterest in conventional audience identification has rarely been more pronounced. Mara’s chilly yet vulnerable quality, exploited so effectively in her films with David Fincher, keeps the viewer at a sympathetic distance; Law makes Banks seem weaselly and pompous even when he assumes the role of protagonist; and Zeta-Jones, as usual, plays her part with a slyly seductive allure. Of all the actors, Ann Dowd ( Compliance ) rings the sole notes of earnest emotion in a small role as Emily’s mother-in-law. Editing is sharp and precise, and Thomas Newman’s churning score amps up the story’s intensity. Expertly chosen locations and Howard Cummings’ production design create an offhandedly diverse snapshot of New York, ranging from a high-security mental institution to a table at Le Cirque where Dr. Banks and his colleagues talk shop. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
The world premiere of comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone will open the 2013 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival . The festival, which launches its 20th anniversary event March 8th, also unveiled a number of other films and highlights Tuesday. Starring Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi , The Incredible Burt Wonderstone follows superstar magicians Burt Wonderstone (Carell) and Anton Marvelton (Buscemi) who have raked in millions of dollars and reign over the Las Vegas strip. Illusion is their mainstay, but the biggest thing they’re hiding is their growing dislike for each other. Complicating matters, they face increasing competition from a street magician ( Jim Carrey ) whose gaining fame as their show begins to appear tired. But things could get back on track if Burt can get a check on his out-sized ego and remember what made him fall in love with magic in the beginning. In addition to The Incredible Burt Wonderstone , SXSW unveiled a handful of titles that will debut at the festival, which takes place March 8 – 16 in Austin, TX. SXSW veteran Joe Swanberg returns with his comedy that blurs the line between “friends” and “more than friends,” Drinking Buddies . Also on tap are Alex Winter’s documentary on the rise of Napster, Downloaded as well as Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers . Good Ol’ Freda chronicles the never-before-told story of The Beatles’ secretary, Freda Kelly and the re-make of the 1981 cult hit Evil Dead by Fede Alvarez are also among the titles revealed Tuesday. SXSW will also host conversations with Matthew McConaughey and Jeffrey Tambor as part of its conference. Other guests include The Black List founder Franklin Leonard and AMC News host and Huff Post Live producer, Jacob Soboroff. “Everyone knows that we like have a good time at SXSW, and our 20th year is already well on track with smart, stylish and highly entertaining work,” said SXSW Film Conference and Festival Producer Janet Pierson in a statement. “Though this is just a taste of what SXSW 2013 will have to offer, what better way to get the party started than with The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, which had us laughing our heads off, despite an 8am Monday viewing.” SXSW will unveil the bulk of its lineup January 31st. SXSW’s announced titles and highlights: Downloaded (World Premiere) Director: Alex Winter Downloaded is a documentary that explores the rise and fall of Napster and the birth of the digital revolution. It’s about the teens that helped start this revolution, and the artists and industries who continue to be impacted by it. Drinking Buddies (World Premiere) Director/Screenwriter: Joe Swanberg Weekend trips, office parties, late night conversations, drinking on the job, marriage pressure, biological clocks, holding eye contact a second too long… you know what makes the line between “friends” and “more than friends” really blurry? Beer. Cast: Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston Everyone’s Going to Die (World Premiere) Director/Screenwriter: Jones A modern British story about coming home, getting by and the redemptive power of feeling you’re not alone. A story where porn hotlines rub shoulders with sexy beavers on rollerskates; where the past is laid to rest, two lives are changed and nobody, finally, is going to die. Cast: Nora Tschirner, Rob Knighton, Kellie Shirley, Madeline Duggan (United Kingdom) Evil Dead (World Premiere) Director: Fede Alvarez, Screenwriter: Fede Alvarez & Rodo Sayagues Five friends, holed up in a remote cabin, discover a Book of the Dead that unwittingly summons up dormant demons, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left to fight for survival. Cast: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore Good Ol’ Freda (World Premiere) Director: Ryan White Good Ol’ Freda tells the story of Freda Kelly, a shy Liverpudlian teenager asked to work for a young local band hoping to make it big: The Beatles. Their loyal secretary from beginning to end, Freda tells her tales for the first time in 50 years. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (World Premiere) Director: Don Scardino, Story by Chad Kultgen & Tyler Mitchell and Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley. Screenplay by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley As superstar Vegas magicians and former best friends Burt and Anton grow to secretly loathe each other, their long-time act implodes, allowing an ambitious rival street performer the big break he’s been waiting for. Cast: Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, with Alan Arkin, James Gandolfini and Jim Carrey Spring Breakers (U.S. Premiere) Director/Screenwriter: Harmony Korine Four college girls who land in jail after robbing a restaurant in order to fund their spring break vacation find themselves bailed out by a drug and arms dealer who wants them to do some dirty work. Cast: James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine Announced Highlights from the 2013 Conference: A Conversation with Matthew McConaughey – An in-depth discussion with the incredibly fascinating actor, whose career continues to evolve in exciting and unexpected ways, including his bold choices with recent projects like Magic Mike, Killer Joe, Bernie and Mud. Humanizing Heroes: Storytelling Beyond Sports – The leading authorities behind some of today’s most notable sports films, Connor Schell (ESPN Films), Ken Rodgers (NFL Films) and Ross Greenburg (Ross Greenburg Productions), discuss the evolution of storytelling in sports filmmaking, its influence on pop culture and its continued resonance across all cultures and backgrounds. Bates Motel: Story to Screen with Carlton Cuse – In a Special Event combining the SXSW Film Festival and Conference in one, attendees will get an exclusive first look at the pilot of Bates Motel, the thrilling new series from A&E. Following the screening, Executive Producer Carlton Cuse (Lost) will sit down with A&E Marketing EVP Guy Slattery for an inside look and Q&A on the process for bringing this contemporary prequel to life. Jeffrey Tambor’s Acting Workshop – Jeffrey Tambor continues the tradition of his much loved acting and life workshop by returning to SXSW Film 2013. Part one-man show, part seminar, part question and answer and endlessly entertaining, Jeffrey’s hilarious and empowering presentation inspires the viewer to discover the artist within.
As a faithful rendering of a justly beloved musical, Les Misérables will more than satisfy the show’s legions of fans. Even so, director Tom Hooper and the producers have taken a number of artistic liberties with this lavish bigscreen interpretation. The squalor and upheaval of early 19th-century France are conveyed with a vividness that would have made Victor Hugo proud, heightened by the raw, hungry intensity of the actors’ live on-camera vocals. Yet for all its expected highs, the adaptation has been managed with more gusto than grace; at the end of the day, this impassioned epic too often topples beneath the weight of its own grandiosity. The Universal release will nonetheless be a major worldwide draw through the holidays and beyond, spelling a happy commercial ending for a project that has been in development for roughly a quarter-century. Since its 1985 London premiere, the Cameron Mackintosh-produced tuner (adapted from Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schoenberg’s French production) has became one of the longest-running acts in legit history, outpaced only by The Phantom of the Opera and Cats. Les Misérables has aged far more gracefully than those two ’80s-spawned perennials, owing largely to the lush emotionalism of Schoenberg’s score, the timeless sentiments articulated in Herbert Kretzmer’s lyrics, and the socially conscious themes, arguably more relevant than ever, set forth in Hugo’s much-filmed masterwork. In an intuitive yet bold scripting decision, scribes William Nicholson, Boublil, Schoenberg and Kretzmer have fully retained the show’s sung-through structure, with only minimal spoken dialogue to break the flow of wall-to-wall music. Not for nothing is “Do You Hear the People Sing?” the piece’s signature anthem; song is the characters’ natural idiom and the story’s lifeblood, and the filmmakers grasp this idea firmly enough to give the music its proper due. Even with some of the lyrics skillfully truncated, this mighty score remains the engine that propels the narrative forward. In visual terms, Hooper adopts a maximalist approach, attacking the material with a vigor and dynamism that suggest his Oscar-winning direction on The King’s Speech was just a warm-up. At every turn, one senses the filmmaker trying to honor the material and also transcend it, to deliver the most vibrant, atmospheric, physically imposing and emotionally shattering reading of the show imaginable. Yet the effect of this mammoth 158-minute production can be as enervating as it is exhilarating; blending gritty realism and pure artifice, shifting from solos of almost prayerful stillness to brassy, clunkily cut-together ensemble numbers, it’s an experience whose many dazzling parts seem strangely at odds. The film’s ambition is immediately apparent in a muscular opening setpiece that hints at the scope of Eve Stewart’s production design: In 1815 Toulon, France, a chain gang labors to tow a ship into port. Among the inmates is Jean Valjean ( Hugh Jackman ), overpunished for having stolen a loaf of bread nearly 20 years earlier, now being released on parole by Javert ( Russell Crowe ), the prison guard who will persecute him for years to come. With his scraggly beard, sunburnt skin and air of wild-eyed desperation, Valjean looks every inch a man condemned but, through the aid of a kind bishop (Colm Wilkinson, who originated the role of Valjean in 1985), vows in his soul-searching number “What Have I Done?” to become a man of virtue. In this and other sequences, Hooper (again working with Speech d.p. Danny Cohen) opts to bring the camera close to his downtrodden characters and hold it there. It’s a gesture at once compassionate and calculated, and it’s never more effective than when it touches the face of Fantine (Anne Hathaway ), a poor, unwed mother ejected from Valjean’s factory into the gutters. Hathaway’s turn is brief but galvanic. Her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream,” captured in a single take, represents the picture’s high point, an extraordinary distillation of anguish, defiance and barely flickering hope in which the lyrics seem to choke forth like barely suppressed howls of grief. Hathaway has been ripe for a full-blown tuner showcase ever since she gamely sang a duet with Jackman at the Oscars in 2009, and she fulfills that promise here with a solo as musically adept as it is powerfully felt. This sequence fully reveals the advantages of Hooper’s decision to have the thesps sing directly on-camera, with minimal dubbing and tweaking in post. As carefully calibrated with the orchestrations (by Anne Dudley and Stephen Metcalfe) in Simon Hayes’ excellent sound mix, the vocals sound intense, ragged and clenched with feeling, in a way that at times suggests neorealist opera. A few beats and notes may be missed here and there, but always in a way that serves the immediacy of the moment and the truth of the emotions being expressed, giving clear voice to the drama’s underlying anger and advocacy on behalf of the poor, marginalized and misunderstood. Hathaway’s exit leaves a hole in the picture, which undergoes a tricky tonal shift as Valjean rescues Fantine’s young daughter, Cosette (Isabelle Allen), from her cruel guardians, the Thenardiers. Inhabited with witchy, twitchy comic abandon by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter, not terribly far removed from the grotesques they played in “Sweeney Todd,” these innkeepers amusingly send up their venal, disreputable and utterly unsanitary lifestyle in “Master of the House,” a memorably grotesque number that also marks the point, barely halfway through, when Les Misérables starts to splutter. As it shifts from one dynamically slanted camera angle to another via Melanie Ann Oliver and Chris Dickens’ busy editing, the picture seems reluctant to slow down and let the viewer simply take in the performances. That hectic, cluttered quality becomes more pronounced as the story lurches ahead to the 1832 Paris student uprisings, where the erection of a barricade precipitates and complicates any number of subplots. These include Javert’s ongoing pursuit of Valjean, their frequent run-ins seeming even more coincidental than usual in this movie context; the blossoming romance between Cosette (now played by Amanda Seyfried ) and young revolutionary leader Marius ( Eddie Redmayne ); and the noble suffering of Eponine ( Samantha Barks ), whose unrequited love for Marius is heartbreakingly exalted in “On My Own.” As the characters’ voices and stories converge in the magisterial medley “One Day More,” the frequent crosscutting provides a reasonable visual equivalent of the nimble revolving sets used onstage. Yet even on this broader canvas, the visual space seems to constrict rather than expand, and the sense of a sweeping panorama remains elusive. From there, the film proceeds through an ungainly pileup of gun-waving mayhem before unleashing a powerful surge of emotion in the suitably grand finale. Devotees of the stage show will nonetheless be largely contented to see it realized on such an enormous scale and inhabited by well-known actors who also happen to possess strong vocal chops. The revelation here is Redmayne, who brings a youthful spark to the potentially milquetoast role of Marius, and who reveals an exceptionally smooth, full-bodied singing voice, particularly in his mournful solo “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.” Jackman’s extensive legit resume made him no-brainer casting for Valjean, and he embodies this sinner-turned-saint with the requisite fire and gravitas. Whether he’s comforting the dying Fantine or sweetly serenading the sleeping Cosette (in the moving “Suddenly,” a song written expressly for the screen), Jackman projects a stirring warmth and nobility. He’s less at home with the higher register of Valjean’s daunting two-octave range; there’s more strain than soul in his performance of “Bring Him Home,” usually one of the show’s peak moments. Crowe reveals a thinner, less forceful singing voice than those of his co-stars, robbing the morally blinkered Javert of some dramatic stature, although his screen presence compensates. Barks, a film newcomer wisely retained from past stagings, more than holds her own; Seyfried (who previously flexed her musical muscles in Mamma Mia!) croons ever so sweetly as the lovely, passive Cosette; Aaron Tveit cuts a dashing figure as the impulsive student revolutionary Enjolras; and young Daniel Huttlestone makes a delightful impression as the street urchin Gavroche, bringing an impish streak of energy to the proceedings. More on Les Mis: Jackman, Hathaway & Co-Stars Are Masters Of The House At ‘Les Misérables’ Premiere Early Reaction: Oscar Race Heats Up As NYC Screening Of ‘Les Miserables’ Prompts Cheers & Tears Follow Movieline on Twitter.
The re-make of Maniac (1980) doesn’t hit theaters until 2013, but this weekend New Yorkers can see a sneak peek courtesy of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Scary Movies series! The masterminds behind this attempt to outdo William Lustig ‘s brilliantly twisted 1980 slasher classic (good luck with that, by the way) are Alexandre Aja and Gr
The world sat on stitches as the Cold War raged. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met in Iceland as the world glared. Would the world order of two superpowers on the brink end after decades of a nuclear arms race come to a close? Would a Communist and a Republican actually come to an understanding? Could Mikhail and Ronnie get along? If Nancy and Raisa were any indication, that would be a – no! The meeting that might have ended the U.S.-Soviet standoff is of course heading to the big screen and Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz will portray Gorbachev in Reykjavik . Production will begin in March on the meeting that riveted the world in the Icelandic capital. The high stakes meeting pitted two men who had control of enough nuclear bombs to destroy the world many times over. Waltz will star opposite Michael Douglas who will play the U.S. President in the film spearheaded by Mike Newell, according to BBC and THR . “I feel very fortunate to have two such masters to portray the men who brought about the end of the third great war of the 20 Century. Reagan and Gorbachev were two of the most significant politicians and individuals of their times,” said Newell. “I’m very excited to see how each of these great actors gets to grips with their role as the history-changing giants we remember them to have been.” Written by Kevin Hood ( Becoming Jane ) the story recounts the summit which was viewed as a last chance to avoid a nuclear Armageddon. “This is a moment in history where two world leaders with fundamentally opposing beliefs held the future of the world in their hands”, said Headline Pictures president Stewart Mackinnon, a project producer. “They controlled nuclear arsenals which had the capability to destroy the world many times over but despite this, put the needs of humanity before their ideology and agreed to end the nuclear arms race. Informed by deeply-held private beliefs Reagan and Gorbachev reached an understanding that we can still draw lessons from today.” “The film will offer the viewer a unique look into two larger than life figures – Reagan and Gorbachev – who served as the catalysts for one of the most defining moments in our history, the end of the cold war,” said Ridley Scott whose Scott Free Productions will also produce. Waltz will next be seen in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained , while Douglas most recently portrayed flamboyant pianist Liberace in Behind the Candelabra with Matt Damon. [ Sources: BBC and THR ]
A news anchor in LaCrosse, Wis., received a harsh email from a viewer about her weight and responded with an awesome, televised tirade against online bullying. News Anchor Responds to Bullying Jennifer Livingston of WKBT-TV read this letter from a viewer: “Obesity is one of the worst choices a person can make and one of the most dangerous habits to maintain,” the viewer wrote, for no reason at all. “I leave you this note hoping that you’ll reconsider your responsibility as a local public personality to present and promote a healthy lifestyle.” Livingston’s husband, a fellow WKBT anchor, posted the email on Facebook and received an outpouring of support. Moved by this, she called the writer out as a bully. “The truth is I am overweight,” Livingston said . “You can call me fat and yes, even obese on a doctor’s chart. To the person who wrote me that letter, do you think I don’t know that? Your cruel words are pointing out something I don’t see?” “You don’t know me. You are not a friend of mine. You are not a part of my family, and you admitted that you don’t watch this show so you know nothing about me besides what you see on the outside – and I am much more than a number on a scale.” After pointing out that this kind of behavior likely influences the man’s kids to behave the same way at school and perpetuate the cycle, she concluded, “We are better than that bully. We are better than this email. We are better than the bullies that would try to take us down.” Amen.
