Golden Globe nominees Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor turned out for a special screening of their epic tearjerker The Impossible and talked to me about how they summoned the emotional wherewithal to play a couple whose family is torn apart by a tsunami. The picture’s director, J.A.Bayona also attended and told me he had no qualms about casting a Scottish and an Australian actor to play the real-life Spanish couple on which the harrowing story is based. Bayona pointed out that the film never clarifies the couple’s nationality. Besides, the actual husband and wife who inspired the story were on the carpet and they were clearly supportive of the film. Check out my full interview below: RELATED: Golden Globes Unveil 70th Edition Nominees Globes Analysis: Hooper, Russell, De Niro Snubbed & Is Waltz Really A Supporting Actor?
I’m an outlier among other insufferable snobs on the Internet: I actually want Khan to be the villain of Star Trek Into Darkness . This isn’t because I desperately want the films to touch every base that the original series did. After nearly 30 years on television and 10 movies of highly uneven quality, the Star Trek universe prior to JJ Abrams’ Star Trek was suffering horribly from internal rot, not to mention a growing reliance on awful time travel plots and constant nods to series continuity. A fresh start was desperately needed if it was going to remain relevant, even if it came at — sniff — the expense of Captains Picard and Sisko*. But if Star Trek was a successful fresh start (and it was), it also brought with it some terrible baggage from the previous continuity, specifically the fact that its plot was motivated by the same time-travel bullshit that caused the TV universe to finally collapse under the weight of its own pretentions. Thank the founders that Abrams movie focused squarely on the Holy Trinity of Kirk, Spock, and Bones, or we would have noticed how awful Nero really was. But as we’ve already learned with Iron Man 2 , a successul sequel needs to do more than coast on the chemistry of its leads. With Kirk and co. firmly established, STID needs a strong conflict with high stakes, and a memorable villain (or at least a prime mover) connected to that conflict. To pull that off, you can’t force the audience to consult a Trek lore guide. Superturbonerd Trek Fans like me might want to see Harcourt Mudd, Cyrano Jones, Gary Mitchell, The Horta, or that horrible psychic kid played by Ron Howard’s brother but frankly, that’s inside baseball. Ask the legions of moviegoers for whom for whom Star Trek is essentially Kirk bangs space hotties-Spock lectures him about the logic of using a condom-Bones grumpily administers penicillin ,”the only villain they’ll recite from memory is Ricardo Montalban’s Khan Noonien Singh. Is that a problem? Only if you think that the Joker’s appearing in The Dark Knight was a problem. Iconic characters linger in the public memory for a reason, and that makes it easy for a skilled storyteller to take them and make them over into something later audiences can appreciate anew. Do it right and you can get away with anything, even making a horribly lame villain like Bane look bad-ass. And for better or for worse, Khan is Kirk’s Joker. So milk that shit, I say. Use him well and firmly ground STID in its own past, and save less exploited territory for future sequels, when you’ve solidified the audience’s loyalty. But is Khan the villain of Star Trek Into Darkness ? Who the hell can tell? The new trailer certainly doesn’t want us to know for sure. But damned if it isn’t teasing the hell out of us. It’s already been confirmed that the villain will be canon. And now we know that whatever character is blessed with Benedict Cumberbatch’s crisp, Public School tones, he’s really angry and looking to exact some revenge – sorry, vengeance, which is way classier than mere revenge – on the people of Earth. That sounds like Khan to me! Unless Cyrano Jones is angry that the Klingons wiped out the Tribbles. There’s also the fact that the American trailer lacks one crucial scene present in the Japanese trailer (see it right before the end): a deliberate homage to the moment of Spock’s Death in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan . Even if it’s just a dodge (something Abrams does very well,) the reference can’t be a coincidence. And if this means we get to see Cumberbatch doing is best Ricardo Montalban impression, that’s fine by me. Just so long as it doesn’t mean we have to endure another go at The Search For Spock . Some additional thoughts: -If you think it’s ridiculous that a lily-white Briton like Benedict Cumberbatch could even pretend to play an Indian, it’s worth noting that Gabrielle Anwar and Ben Kingsley both have Indian fathers. -Notice the ship rising out of the water? If it isn’t the SS botany Bay, I wonder if it’s the same starship we see crashing into the San Francisco Bay later in the trailer. -The interesting thing about the trailer is just how much of Earth we’re seeing in it. Star Trek was originally pitched as Wagon Train to the stars, but of course, the wagon train had to start somewhere. The original series and subsequent iterations barely feature earth as anything other than a reference. For all we know, the only thing people do back home is build more Enterprises. Also, whenever I watch a western, I always want a scene of what people are up to back in Boston or London. It’s interesting that in the space version, we’re getting exactly that. *Truth: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is inarguably the best series. YEAHISAIDIT. Read More: ‘ Star Trek Into Darkness’ Explodes An Early Tease Star Trek 2 Gets A Title: Where Does It Rank In The Franchise? Ross Lincoln is a LA-based freelance writer from Oklahoma with an unhealthy obsession with comics, movies, video games, ancient history, Gore Vidal, and wine. Follow Ross A. Lincoln on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
There’s a question that The Impossible , the new film from Juan Antonio Bayona ( The Orphanage ), demands be asked, and that is — is it easier for audiences to relate to tragedy when it’s filtered through white characters? This is not a new issue. The movies have a long tradition of approaching stories about people of color, both at home and abroad, through the experiences of Caucasian protagonists, a habit that speaks to both (probably not unfounded) ideas about audience preferences and prejudices and the linked reality of what most of our movie stars still look like. The Impossible is set during the 2004 tsunami that hit South East Asia the day after Christmas, killing over 230,000 people and devastating Indonesia, India, Thailand and other countries, but it’s about how one expat family on holiday weathers the tragedy, an uplifting tale of survival and endurance amidst the ruin. On one hand, yes, it feels undeniably strange and selective to approach the worst tsunami in history by way of vacationing foreigners, with representatives of the local Thai population limited to those who come to their aid. The film begins with the family — Henry (Ewan McGregor) and Maria (Naomi Watts), and their sons Lucas (Tom Holland), Simon (Oaklee Pendergast) and Thomas (Samuel Joslin) — arriving on a turbulent flight, and ends with their worse for the wear departure on another one, and the relief that accompanies that trip to safety comes with an awareness that many of the other people left behind do not have a home elsewhere to go back to. On the other hand, The Impossible , which was written by Sergio G. Sánchez, is based on the true story of a Spanish family (transformed here into a British one) who were some of the many visitors to the area whose trip abroad turned into a nightmare. Their experiences aren’t unworthy of being dramatized simply because they’re not representative of the underreported norm, and the film recreates the horrifying saga in ways that are startlingly visceral, including a masterful sequence in which the first wave arrives like a monster in a horror flick. This story being told doesn’t mean that others are silenced, and The Impossible benefits from taking a limited perspective on an awful larger incident rather than try for something more panoramic. What may be a more relevant question for The Impossible is what its aims are as a movie. It’s a thoroughly and effectively sappy effort about a family searching for one another after an incredible catastrophe in the trappings of traumatic gore film — or vice versa, but either way the two halves sit uneasily beside one another on screen. As in The Orphanage , Bayona demonstrates he has a talent for the disturbing or flat out frightening and a taste for the sentimental, and it’s perhaps because this is a film about a real and recent disaster that both feel amplified, the shock and suffering turned up to apologize for or counterbalance the unabashed drippiness that follows. From a pure filmmaking perspective, it’s the first half that really impresses and perturbs, as Henry, Maria and the kids arrive from Japan to spend their holidays in a gorgeous beachside resort in Khao Lak. They film themselves on Christmas morning opening presents on the veranda, they release a paper lantern on the beach at night, and they sit poolside getting sunburns with other Western tourists and talking about their careers while the boys frolic in the water. The tsunami takes them completely by surprise, as it did almost everyone affected, rumbling from the horizon and taking out everything in its path. We stay with Maria as she’s swept away in the chaotic mass of water, the camera sticking with her as she clutches a tree and howls in pain and upset, then cutting over to Lucas as he’s pulled in the current, the two trying to reach each other in a world suddenly upended. It’s a tour de force sequence, and one that manages to outdo a similar one in Hereafter with little effort. But it’s what follows that’s enough to evoke a physical reaction, as Maria trudges through the wreckage, too stunned to notice the tattered muscles exposed in the gaping wound in her leg. The suffering Watts portrays — she climbs, dripping blood and crying in pain, into a tree and in a later scene coughs up what looks like lung tissue — looks all too agonizingly real, and enabling that requires a committed and deeply believable bit of acting. But watching her ordeal is enough to make you feel shaky, and almost as troubling are the sequences that follow in which Henry trudges through the splintered remains of their hotel, looking for the rest of his family, either alive or dead. The Impossible drops you into the experience of living through the tsunami in specific, achingly realized detail, then pulls back to provide a happier ending. After so much anguish, the need to balance it out with something positive is understandable, but it’s difficult not to be aware of just how much Bayona is yanking on heartstrings as he arranges for near misses and hospital misunderstandings, teary phone calls and kindly old women (Geraldine Chaplin!) providing companionship to forlorn children. Any glimpses of good amidst the destruction are welcome, but after that jarring, unforgettably immediate account of the tsunami, the latter half of The Impossible is so disappointingly movie -ish, tying a bow on the events after portraying them too vividly to allow them to be wrapped so neatly. It wrings out tears with an industrious efficiency that leaves you feeling manhandled after the exhilarating, terrifying footage that’s unfolded before. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Honestly, whenever a movie’s main selling point is “Hey, check it out! Oscar winners talking about poop and wieners!”, we’re skeptical. We’re sure Kate Winslet likes to show off her range and all, but there’s a reason she’s not known for her comedic roles. There are a lot of red flags surrounding the production of Movie 43 (2013), actually– that it took four years to finish, for example, or that 15 writers and 11 different directors, including Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) star Elizabeth Banks , were involved– but here’s the thing. The usual rules don’t apply to this movie, and here’s why: Ever wish that Peter Farrelly would make his version of The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)? Well, here it is. Halle Berry plays a dirty version of truth or dare (let’s just say turkey basters are involved) in a restaurant, Naomi Watts dons a side ponytail as a mom who bullies her home-schooled son, and Anna Faris wants Chris Pratt to poop on her. Plus, a segment chronicling the invention of the “iBabe” promises to be Movie 43′ s answer to Uschi Digard ‘s mam-entous appearance as a “Catholic High School Girl in Trouble,” and that’s enough to sell us on almost anything. Movie 43 doesn’t hit theaters until January 25, 2013 , but you can see more from stars Halle Berry , Kate Winslet , Anna Faris , Naomi Watts , Emma Stone , Elizabeth Banks , Kristen Bell , Uma Thurman , Kate Bosworth , and (phew) Leslie Bibb right here at MrSkin.com!
Mr. Skin never misses a beat (off) when it comes to the hottest SKINematic releases worth streaming. Your queue is about to go through some serious shuffling, because this week we’ve got free-lovin’ funbags from Angela Sarafyan and Dee Dee Rescher in A Good Old Fashioned Orgy (2011), some nubile Norwegian knockers in Headhunters (2011), and plenty of pink to peep at in Keyhole (2012). Then we’ve got Hall-of-Fame worthy nudity from Julie Warner in Doc Hollywood (1991) and Kim Basinger in 9 1/2 Weeks (1986). And finally, check out some Sapphic canoodling between Laura Harring and Naomi Watts in Mulholland Dr. (2001) and Demi Moore at the apex of her silicone enhancement in Striptease (1996). More after the jump!
Real talk, y’all: The first domestic trailer for Juan Antonio Bayona’s disaster drama The Impossible made me a little misty-eyed. Get ready to get your hearts touched by Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts as parents on vacay with their children who get separated by the devastating 2004 tsunami and attempt to find their way back to each other amid the destruction and chaos. Sniff. The first Spanish language teaser and posters caught our eye with their startlingly frightening imagery, but Summit’s trailer takes a different route with effective results, focusing more on the human drama and bonds at the center of the film. The Impossible marks director Bayona’s English-language debut after impressing with 2007’s The Orphanage . [Trailer debut in HD at Apple .] Based on the true story of one family’s survival of the 2004 tsunami, THE IMPOSSIBLE stars Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor and is directed by J.A. Bayona (THE ORPHANAGE). Maria (Naomi Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand, looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races across the hotel grounds toward her. THE IMPOSSIBLE is the powerful and unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, The Impossible is a journey to the core of the human heart. The Impossible will be released December 21. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Real talk, y’all: The first domestic trailer for Juan Antonio Bayona’s disaster drama The Impossible made me a little misty-eyed. Get ready to get your hearts touched by Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts as parents on vacay with their children who get separated by the devastating 2004 tsunami and attempt to find their way back to each other amid the destruction and chaos. Sniff. The first Spanish language teaser and posters caught our eye with their startlingly frightening imagery, but Summit’s trailer takes a different route with effective results, focusing more on the human drama and bonds at the center of the film. The Impossible marks director Bayona’s English-language debut after impressing with 2007’s The Orphanage . [Trailer debut in HD at Apple .] Based on the true story of one family’s survival of the 2004 tsunami, THE IMPOSSIBLE stars Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor and is directed by J.A. Bayona (THE ORPHANAGE). Maria (Naomi Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand, looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races across the hotel grounds toward her. THE IMPOSSIBLE is the powerful and unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, The Impossible is a journey to the core of the human heart. The Impossible will be released December 21. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
It’s not very often I find myself posting pictures of a hottie in a one-piece bathing suit, usually because only grandmas and chubsters wear that kind of thing, but every now and again a hottie decides to slip one on and surprise me. Here’s Naomi Watts at the beach over the weekend enjoying a little fun in the sun in her ironic hipster bathing suit. At least I hope it’s supposed to be ironic, she’s not old enough to be wearing this kind of thing. Either way, she’s stirring up controversy in my pants and I like it.
Oh shit….old bitches from movies who I’ve never found hot are in bathing suits for a movie they are filming…and for some reason I’m posting it…probably cuz I am addicted to posting celebrity bikini pics…all while I know if I want to see hot half naked bikini hotness I just need to use the internet…Maybe I’m doing to for Sean Penn…you know to give him something to jerk off to while visiting the site…cuz I know we don’t need to look at 40 and 50 year olds in bathing suits and react like it is a good thing….we aren’t coaching an geriatric aquarobic class….staring at this shit isn’t our job…we are free to find actual hot girls in bikinis and that’s what I’m going to do….starting with Facebook vacation albums…#anxiously-awaiting-spring-break-bikini-influx-on-FB…. Word. To See the Rest of the Pics…. Follow THis LInk
As Lily Tomlin ‘s Ernestine once said, “There’s nothing like a Hoover when you’re dealing with dirt.” Clint Eastwood ‘s J. Edgar could use more dirt: This is a sensitive, sympathetic portrait of a scummy little man, an earnest attempt to map the contours and contradictions of a complicated son-of-a-bitch. But it’s all too earnest, to the point of serving, unwittingly or otherwise, as an apologia. Even Eastwood’s attempt at a poignant Hoover death scene fails to hit the mark: I for one would want to stick the guy with a pin to make sure he was really dead.
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