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2008
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Five Favorite Films With Peter Jackson
21 December 2009 3:33 AM, PST
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Peter Jackson has come a long way since his 1987 debut Bad Taste, a shoestring-budget splatter film shot in his native New Zealand that went on to earn a cult following. Yet there's something of that film's inventive and playful spirit in almost everything he's done since, be it bawdy puppets (1989's Meet the Feebles), killer teens (1994's Heavenly Creatures) or ice-skating apes (2005's King Kong). The Lord of the Rings trilogy made him a household name and earned him Oscar acclaim, while he's currently producing the long-awated prequel, The Hobbit, with Guillermo del Toro directing. As Jackson's latest, the
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The Lovely Bones review
10 December 2009 10:01 PM, PST
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"The Lovely Bones" is a lovingly crafted tale of afterlife toil and the bond of family. It is a modern-day, dark fable, a Vertigo comic book of a movie. Built on and all about death and tragedy, it is the kind of super-natural fable that we have become far too afraid to share with our children in this day and age. While it is a tale of child murder, it absolutely is not Peter Jackson's "Mystic River". Nor is it "Heavenly Creatures II". Despite its noticeable flaws, "The Lovely Bones" has the benefit of being a very original work, unlike most anything else out there. Although heavy-handed in direction and tonally uneven, the film ultimately strikes the right cords, thanks in part to some of the best performances of the year.
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[Movie Review] The Lovely Bones
9 December 2009 8:00 AM, PST
| JustPressPlay.net
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With The Lovely Bones director Peter Jackson finally becomes everything that he threatened to be with his last two films: graceless, tactless, and unable to imbue his constant special effects with the slightest sense of weight or gravity. It’s been a long time coming (really, who could go from anonymity to deity in the way that he has without believing your own hype), but the worst thing that can be said isn’t that it’s his first bad film; it’s that it’s his first film that doesn’t feel like a Peter Jackson film.
At the tender age of 14, Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is killed by her neighbor Mr. Harvey (Stanley Tucci). This isn’t a spoiler, but rather the first twenty minutes of the film. Going on from there to a candy-colored vision of the afterlife, she is able to watch firsthand the effect that
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- Anders Nelson
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The Hobbit Casting Begins This Week
8 December 2009 8:06 AM, PST
| ScreenRant.com
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When rumors hit the Net last week that the highly-anticipated adaptation of The Hobbit was being delayed a full year, it wasn’t good news for fans who are dying to see this film on the big-screen. However, we were right to treat it as a rumor, as soon afterward, producer Peter Jackson debunked the rumor, saying that as far as he’s concerned there’s been no delay and the film (Part 1) is still on course for a December 2011 release.
So, with that out of the way, one of the biggest questions hovering over The Hobbit is that of who will bring the characters of the classic fantasy tale to life, most importantly (I think you’ll agree) the role of Bilbo Baggins. Clearly, with the story taking place six decades before The Fellowship of the Ring, they can’t use Ian Holm again. Ian McKellen has said in
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- Ross Miller
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Awesome Orsons: Who's the best on-screen Welles?
8 December 2009 6:39 AM, PST
| The Guardian - Film News
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Christian McKay's performance in Richard Linklater's film has got tongues wagging about a possible Oscar nod. Was he some kind of an Orson?
"What you're really doing is […] presenting to the public that part of you which corresponds to the part which you're playing. There is a villain in each of us, a murderer in each of us, a saint in each of us. And the actor is the man or woman who can eliminate from himself those things which will interfere with that truth."
It's perhaps fitting that Orson Welles maintained such views on acting: that each time the camera rolls or the curtain rises, the players are pulling out aspects of themselves in order to portray particular characters. For when Welles himself has been depicted on screen, the results have been remarkably varied. For such a studied individual, there seems to be no one interpretation of him,
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- Ben Child
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Decade in Review: 2003 Top Ten
8 December 2009 6:30 AM, PST
| FilmExperience
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As you may have noticed, I will not be done with my Decade in Review until sometime into the new year. Hopefully we'll wrap up shortly after the Oscars; You know how distractingly all-consuming the Oscars can be! I hope you'll stay with it even though the rest of the media will move on any second now. They're always in such a rush. No stopping and smelling of the flowers. I've still got to update that "Actors of the Aughts" project for final compilation/statement. For now, let's move on to 2003. What follows is my original top ten list, based on films released in NYC in 2003. If I have anything new to say that'll be in red after the original text.
Special Mentions: The Cremaster Cycle and Angels in America
Most Underappreciated: Hulk (Ang Lee), In the Cut (Jane Campion), Anything Else (Woody Allen), Charlies Angels: Full Throttle (McG) and
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- NATHANIEL R
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Peter Jackson Says The Hobbit Casting Begins This Week
7 December 2009 6:19 PM, PST
| cinemablend.com
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It looks like half of the latest Hobbit buzz is true! No confirmation on a female leading role, but writer/producer Peter Jackson says that casting will begin this week for every role except Gandalf, which will be offered to the man who played the part in all three Lord of The Rings films, Ian McKellen.
Jackson told THR, .What we.ve done over the years is discover a lot of interesting actors, like Orlando Bloom (in Rings), Kate Winslet (in Heavenly Creatures), Saoirse Ronan (in The Lovely Bones). So if you start looking and auditioning seriously, it.s amazing what incredible talent you.ll find out there..
Rather than go straight for the big names, the plan is apparently to look far and wide for the actor most suitable for each role.
.(These movies) have never been a star-driven vehicle. The star is (author J.R.R.) Tolkien and
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This week's new cinema previews
4 December 2009 4:05 PM, PST
| The Guardian - Film News
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The Box (12A)
(Richard Kelly, 2009, Us) Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella. 116 mins
Will Kelly ever make another movie as good as Donnie Darko? There are signs here that he might, but he hasn't this time. The Twilight Zone plot – press the button on this box and you'll get $1m, but someone will die – opens up more moral/conspiracy/sci-fi elements than the film can handle. Still, too much is better than not enough, especially when it's as smoothly sinister, visually sophisticated and borderline bonkers as this.
Me And Orson Welles (12A)
(Richard Linklater, 2008, Us/UK) Zac Efron, Claire Danes. 114 mins
Efron graduates from High School backstage to Welles's 1930s theatre troupe in this sweet coming-of-age flick, holding his own against Christian McKay's rakish, bombastic Welles – even when they fall for the same girl.
Cracks (15)
(Jordan Scott, 2009, UK) Eva Green, Juno Temple. 104 mins
Set within the confines of a posh girls' boarding school,
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- Steve Rose
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Decade in Review: 2002 Top Ten
2 December 2009 7:58 PM, PST
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As with 2000 and 2001, I'm reprinting my original top ten lists and commentary. If I've got something new to say, it'll be in red below.
Please note: This list was based on NYC release dates in the year 2002. Some movies are listed as different years at the IMDb based on when they were produced or released in their home country or in La or whatnot.
Undervalued: Morvern Callar, Roger Dodger, About a Boy, White Oleander, Panic Room and Kissing Jessica Stein Top 10 Runners Up: Chicago, Monsoon Wedding, Punch Drunk Love and Spirited Away I still am glad I championed most of these movies though I am sad that some of them aren't in the top ten... particularly Morvern, Monsoon and the Miyazaki. The MMMs. Though I'm not sure I'd know what to remove to make room for them.
10. 8 Women (François Ozon)
Ever since I a French teacher took my friends and
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- NATHANIEL R
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Nathaniel Thanks You
26 November 2009 5:00 PM, PST
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I am surely in a friend & food coma while you're reading this. Happily so! This Thanksgiving I'm grateful for all of you. You keep coming back daily to read the latest cinematic musings here at The Film Experience. Obsessing on the movies is really meant to be a team sport so I appreciate the fine company. They don't make movie theaters with one seat in them.
So thank you for being here daily from all over the world -- not just the States -- with an especially amorphous shout out to readers in Canada, the UK, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, Mexico and The Philippines. You've always been supportive. And a big hug to my magical elves contributors who've really helped keep the blog going during a difficult year.
Normal programming resumes tomorrow but I must give thanks to the following sources of cinematic happiness at the moment: ambiguous endings,
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- NATHANIEL R
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War of the Welles: Seven Actors Who've Played Orson
26 November 2009 7:15 AM, PST
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Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" is about one man from many perspectives. As a reporter travels the country in search of the meaning of Charles Foster Kane's last words, he hears stories about the man from wives, co-workers, friends, and guardians, all of whom see Kane's life differently. In the trailer, Welles describes the many dimensions of his character in the narration: "Kane is a hero, and a scoundrel, a no account and a swell guy. A great lover, a great American citizen and a dirty dog."
Certainly, Welles believed that one man could encompass all of these dissimilar traits. And in recent years, enough actors have portrayed enough variations of Welles himself to suggest that the acting/directing wunderkind, like Kane, was just as complex an individual. Some films have portrayed him as a hero, others as a scoundrel. Some, like Richard Linklater's new film "Me and Orson Welles,
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- Matt Singer
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Film review: The Lovely Bones
24 November 2009 11:17 PM, PST
| The Guardian - Film News
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Leicester Square, London
How does one make a PG-certificate film about the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl? Director Peter Jackson provides an answer of sorts with The Lovely Bones, which leaves the murder unseen and the rape unmentioned.
His reward is a blushing mainstream entertainment that was tonight deemed fit to be introduced to polite society at a royal premiere in Leicester Square. Our reward is anyone's guess.
The drama ushers us through the afterlife of Susie Salmon (Atonement's Saoirse Ronan), a small-town kid in 1970s Pennsylvania who is killed by the local pervert (Stanley Tucci) and looks down on her scattered, shattered family from her place in limbo. She sees her mum (Rachel Weisz) flee the coop and her dad (Mark Wahlberg) come apart at the seams. From this celestial vantage, she starts to fear for the safety of her little sister (Rose McIver), whose jogging route
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- Xan Brooks
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Early Buzz: 'The Lovely Bones' is a "Significant Artistic Disappointment"?
24 November 2009 5:39 PM, PST
| Cinematical
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The first reviews for Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones are beginning to pour in, and, naturally (for a popular, fan-friendly director like Jackson), there are the raves (Harry Knowles from AICN) and the pans (Todd McCarthy from Variety). Just posted this evening over at Variety, McCarthy's review is perhaps the hardest one to swallow. Essentially his biggest problem with the movie were the effects, claiming Jackson uses them way too much (and too often) for a film (and story) that doesn't really require them. He calls it "show-offy" and says the film "rates as a significant artistic disappointment." It's an unfortunate review for a film that was a shoe-in (and still may be, especially for Stanley Tucci) for multiple Oscar nods on almost everyone's list.
Some other quotes (no spoilers):
-- "This is an incredibly lovely film. From the visuals to the performances to the story-telling and film work.
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- Erik Davis
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The Somewhat Lovely Bones?
24 November 2009 5:36 PM, PST
| FilmExperience
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You probably caught on Awards Daily that some early reviews of The Lovely Bones are out. Lots more to come presumably. But did you see this tweet from British actor/novelist/funny man Stephen Fry
Variety is significantly less riveted than Fry, calling it an "artistic disappointment". Todd McCarthy also crushes my dreams by starting the review talking about Heavenly Creatures, a film which he seems to hold in as high regard as I do (One of the three best films of the 1990s, if you ask me).
The "disappointment" seems to stem from Jackson's infatuation with visual f/x. As for its actors, this bit is interesting... With reddish hair, brilliantly alive eyes and a seemingly irrepressible impulse for movement and activity, Ronan represents a heavenly creature indeed, a figure of surging, eager, anticipatory life cut off just as it is budding. Less quicksilver and more solidly built, McIver's
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- NATHANIEL R
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Check This Out: One More Final Poster for The Lovely Bones
24 November 2009 1:49 PM, PST
| firstshowing.net
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The very final official poster for Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones was just debuted by MySpace. It's essentially a more polished version of the beautiful teaser poster but with Saoirse Ronan standing in clear view and a very creepy Stanley Tucci. I've got to wonder, though, will this actually help sell the film? Maybe it's just me, but I can't imagine people walking by this and thinking "oooh, I want to see that" unless they're already familair with the book or are Peter Jackson fans. Who knows? Does this also mean we'll see a new trailer sometime soon, because that first one is a bit old by now. Anyway, check out the poster in full below.
If you haven't seen the first official trailer for The Lovely Bones yet, you can still watch it online right here.
The Lovely Bones is directed by Academy Award winning filmmaker Peter Jackson,
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- Alex Billington
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Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit and Tintin Update
24 November 2009 5:57 AM, PST
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Peter Jackson is in London today for the Royal gala world premiere of The Lovely Bones. Interviewed by the BBC, the Kiwi director gave an update on his latest projects, which quite frankly, are massive.
The rise of Peter Jackson is a success story unlike any other (okay maybe Sam Raimi, too). From cheapo, homemade horror to Oscar glory is something early fans of Jackson could never have expected. Now, he’s so rich and powerful, he can do whatever the hell he wants.
Jackson told the BBC, “Tintin is great”, before adding it will take two years for the effects work to be complete. Directed by Steven Spielberg, expect the hype and buzz surrounding their joint venture to be excruiatingly slow. On top of this, there’s the small matter of a film called The Hobbit. Directing duty goes to Guillermo Del Toro, who is shooting on traditional 35mm.
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- Martyn Conterio
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The Lovely Bones International Trailer: Sadly, No New Footage
14 November 2009 1:33 PM, PST
| Slash Film
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I keep looking for something that will sell me on The Lovely Bones. Once upon a time, Peter Jackson's name would have been enough. It's not that King Kong changed that, but between the problems with Kong and the fact that the story in this new film doesn't grab me (based on what I know about it) I'm in a 'wait and see' holding pattern. More problematic is that the current Us trailer for his new film actively turned me off. I see why people liked it, but the tone felt like an unsuccessful bid to get back to the feeling of Heavenly Creatures.
So I'm watching for each new batch of footage with some anticipation. Now there's a new French trailer for the film, but all it really does is replicate the long Us version in a shorter time frame.
It is weird, that with the film set
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- Russ Fischer
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Kate Winslet 'worth £60m' to UK economy
9 November 2009 4:12 AM, PST
| The Guardian - Film News
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UK Film Council estimates actor's value based on factors including her salary as well as her films' effect on British tourism and UK-based film production
She has been appraised and audited and metaphorically slapped with a price tag. It's official: Kate Winslet, the Oscar-winning star of The Reader, is worth a grand total of £60m to the British economy.
Winslet, 34, is the first actor to be audited in a bold new venture by the UK Film Council, designed to calculate the exact value of the industry's stars. Jokingly referred to as the "Winslet algorithm", it bases its findings on a number of factors, from Winslet's basic salary through to the "general promotional effect" that her films have on British tourism.
The formula calculated that the actor had earned £20m from her acting roles since starring in Sense and Sensibility back in 1995. However, it also credits her stardom as a key
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- Xan Brooks
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"Cracks" reveals a disturbing tale of boarding school obsession
29 October 2009 10:00 AM, PDT
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If you’ve been waiting anxiously to catch your first glimpse of repression, lust and Eva Green in an all-girls boarding school drama Cracks, wait no more. The first poster and trailer for the new film were released this week. While it looks gorgeous, the tagline certainly raises an eyebrow: “Innocence isn’t lost. It’s taken.” Uh-oh.
Eva stars as the popular, enigmatic Miss G, a teacher and diving coach at an elite English boarding school during the summer of 1934 who is adored by her students. Previous reports about the film has raised hopes a lesbian relationship, but the trailer suggests something more sinister.
The trailer brings to mind Picnic at Hanging Rock mixed with Loving Annabelle and a healthy dash of Heavenly Creatures and Lord of the Flies thrown in for good measure. So when Eva said that the story was “"little taboo” earlier, she really wasn’t kidding.
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- dorothy snarker
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Lovely Bones: Cynical Awards Fodder Or Box Office Gold?
14 October 2009 10:04 AM, PDT
| FilmShaft.com
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The Lovely Bones has been a decade-long project: traversing continents; switching directors; growing in budget; Ryan Gosling fired; Mark Wahlberg hired; delayed for almost a year. Alarm bells start to ring. Despite all the rumours and gossip-mongering Peter Jackson’s latest feature has been, rather cynically, held back for “awards season”. In other words, the studio is unsure of how its product is going to play at the box office, so is hoping critical praise might help.
What started off as a Film Four production with Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsey has turned into an effects-laden, multi-million dollar behemoth. The trailer hit the internet in August and instantly recalled fellow Kiwi filmmaker Vincent Ward’s “beautiful disaster” What Dreams May Come. The similarities in tone and imagery are striking (dodgy wigs included).
The inexorable rise of Peter Jackson appears utterly incongruous given his origins in low budget splatter-horror. But is it?
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- Martyn Conterio
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