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Decade in Review: 2004 Top Ten

14 December 2009 6:56 PM, PST | FilmExperience | See recent FilmExperience news »

Moving on to 2004. What follows is my original top ten list, based on films released in NYC in 2004. If I have anything new to say that'll be in red after the original text.

Top Ten Runners Up (in descending order): Aviator, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Mean Girls, Maria Full of Grace, The Five Obstructions, Collateral, Goodbye Lenin!, Birth and Closer Yes, I'm absolutely horrified by the rankings now. Nothing about that ranking feels right now. I am most ashamed that Birth was only at number [cough] 19 in its year. In my self-flattering memory I "almost" put it in the top ten despite the then brutal reviews. I was ahead of my time! Oh well... at least I did actually name it the #1 most underappreciated film of the year. At the time I said...

Jonathan Glazer made a significant splash four years ago when his brilliantly acted heist film Sexy Beast »

- NATHANIEL R

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This decade’s film: 2000-2004

14 December 2009 8:08 AM, PST | t5m.com | See recent t5m.com news »

Pottermania, Tolkein-mania, Twilight-mania…it’s fair to say that the noughties have been a strong one for different kinds of mania. Moreover, it’s also been the time for some pretty awesome movies. 2000 marked a particularly promising start: American Beauty, the directorial debut from Sam Mendes was a unique critique on the American dream that attracted widespread acclaim, being nominated for 8 Academy Awards and winning 5; including Best Picture. His next project, Road to Perdition proved this success to be no fluke. Apparently this was a good time for new directors, as further evidenced by Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, and Spike Jonze’s Being John Malkovich. Not that the decade was limited to low-budget concept flicks. Box office-smashing comic book adaptations became the name of the game; ranging from the great (Spider-Man, X-Men and Hellboy), to the not so much (Daredevil and Fantastic Four). It became (almost) socially acceptable »

- Uprising

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Dreamworks Tackling Wife Vs Ninja

10 December 2009 11:00 PM, PST | ShockYa | See recent ShockYa news »

DreamWorks has bought the rights to the action-comedy “Wife vs. Ninja” project from Michael Besman (”About Schmidt, “The Opposite of Sex”), about a Long Island housewife who discovers that the beautiful intern who seduced her research scientist husband away from her is actually a ruthless ninja assassin intent on stealing his work and claiming it as her own. Besman will produce the project as well as write the script, alongside Michael Zam and Jaffe Cohen. No casting or directing news has been announced yet. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from”Wife vs. Ninja” and Dreamworks. By Costa Koutsoutis (Source: Variety) »

- Costa Koutsoutis

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Get Ready for 'Wife vs. Ninja'

10 December 2009 11:15 AM, PST | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »

What do you do when your husband leaves you for a younger woman? You fight the little homewrecker, right? But what if she's professionally trained in martial arts? That appears to be the question that spawned Wife vs. Ninja, a high-concept idea just bought by DreamWorks, according to Variety.

The pitch comes from Michael Besman, producer of About Schmidt and The Opposite of Sex, and specifically involves a woman whose scientist hubby ditches the married life to be with his intern. But the wife learns the young woman is actually a ninja assassin on a mission to steal the husband's secret formula for a new hair tonic or burger sauce, or whatever it is he's working on. So, if the title is any indication, the wife then fights the girlfriend for the life and love of her undeserving man.

Filed under: Action, Comedy, Dreamworks

Continue reading Get Ready for 'Wife vs. »

- Christopher Campbell

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DreamWorks Picks Up 'Wife vs. Ninja'

10 December 2009 6:54 AM, PST | AMC - Script to Screen | See recent AMC - Script to Screen news »

DreamWorks has just picked up Michael Besman's pitch for an action-comedy called "Wife vs. Ninja."

Here's the premise: a Long Island housewife discovers that the young woman who recently stole her away her scientist husband is actually a ninja assassin in disguise, focussed on stealing the man's work.

Like JoBlo, I have a hard time imagining exactly why any wife would care what kind of career her husband's mistress had, but hey Besman also produced "About Schmidt" and "The Opposite of Sex," so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Source: JoBlo

»

- Christina Warren

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TV Review: ‘Men of a Certain Age’ Promising But Off to Dull Start

7 December 2009 10:20 AM, PST | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »

Chicago – The mid-life crisis of the modern man is mostly about ego - as the body goes downhill and the role of the alpha male is supplanted by a new version of himself, men kind of fall apart as they realize that their peak has arguably passed. Why would such an individual experience make for intriguing drama? Using the mid-life crisis as a jumping off point for drama would require some seriously well-drawn characters, the kind of guys who you root to come to terms with passing over that hill. “Men of a Certain Age” does not yet have those characters.

Television Rating: 2.5/5.0

Stars Ray Romano, Andre Braugher, and Scott Bakula are undeniably talented actors who have all found massive success in television on shows like “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” and “Quantum Leap,” respectively. Watching them play characters in decline, one can’t help but think »

- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

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My decade: personal perspectives from key arts figures

7 December 2009 9:03 AM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »

Film-makers, musicians and more look back on their achievements and favourite works from the noughties

Kevin Macdonald, film director

Personally, it's been a fascinating decade. In the late 90s, I was struggling to make TV documentaries but work was drying up. I was a purist, with no interest in working with actors. I hated the idea of dramatic reconstructions because they look so cheesy. Then I worked with actors on Touching the Void and this led to dramatic features, though documentaries remain my first love.

The British film industry has always been about boom and bust. We start out with unrealistic optimism: "We're going to compete with Hollywood!" Then we have the collapse and the correction. We saw it with Alexander Korda in the 1930s, with Rank after the war, and with Gandhi in the 1980s. This decade it happened again.

The collapse of Film4 back in 2002 was part of this problem. »

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Review: Everybody’S Fine

4 December 2009 4:00 AM, PST | WeAreMovieGeeks.com | See recent WeAreMovieGeeks.com news »

It’s early December and folks are beginning to slide into the full holiday spirit. With 21 days until Christmas, we’re not quite ready for the traditional movie fare. Jimmy Stewart, 34th Street and the 24-hour Christmas Story marathon aren’t quite ready to take out of the oven, but Everybody’S Fine arrives just in time, and it’s just the right recipe to ease us into the proper mood. Unlike the comical antics of Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation or the sappy old Wonderful Life, Everybody’S Fine isn’t technically a holiday movie at all. The holiday itself has an extremely small, supplementary role in the story, but it’s the events that lead up to the ending that make it a perfect movie to lead us gently into what this time of year is all about.

Everybody’S Fine stars Robert De Niro as Frank, an »

- Travis

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Decade in Review: 2002 Top Ten

2 December 2009 7:58 PM, PST | FilmExperience | See recent FilmExperience news »

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 »

- NATHANIEL R

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Everybody's (Sorta) Fine

12 November 2009 3:00 AM, PST | ifc.com | See recent IFC news »

"Everyone's been asking how we're doing this week," film critic-turned-afi programmer Robert Koehler said, shortly before a screening of Juan José Campanella's Argentinean murder mystery "The Secret of Their Eyes." "And the answer is our sponsors." Indeed, thanks to chief sponsor Audi, AFI has responded to an economy that's been particularly unkind to film festivals with free tickets that have ensured capacity attendance to most, if not all, of their screenings at the Mann's Chinese Theaters in Hollywood.

Even the more obscure titles that Koehler and his team have programmed, like Philippe Grandrieux's "The Lake" or the Spanish Berlinale winner "The Milk of Sorrow," have seen solid attendance. But the fact that so many have been asking the question is more telling than the answer -- with a changing audience profile (a Bugs Bunny impersonator wandered into Tuesday's screening of "Youth in Revolt" in full costume from entertaining »

- Stephen Saito

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De Niro to the 7th? (Oscar's Male Hierarchy)

6 November 2009 3:46 AM, PST | FilmExperience | See recent FilmExperience news »

Have you been buying the minor huzz (hype+buzz) 'Robert De Niro's 7th Oscar nomination' for the holiday film Everybody's Fine? My friend txt critic saw it last night and sent the following note by phone...

it's, well, fine. most definitely a drama (despite the trailer) and conceptually a cross between About Schmidt and Four Christmases. nice, sweet and somewhat forgettable.

might, Might be a nomination for DeNiro, but i wouldn't bet on it.I dunno. I wasn't betting on it either but Best Actor sure seems vacant this year with only Colin Firth (A Single Man) and George Clooney (Up in the Air) catching any sort of real fire. As I've been saying for months, Fox Searchlight shouldn't have even hesitated to position Crazy Heart for a 2009 release. Jeff Bridges would have a clear shot at the career trophy given the field (if -- and it's always »

- NATHANIEL R

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Clooney will likely have Descendants

3 November 2009 7:58 AM, PST | Corona's Coming Attractions | See recent Corona's Coming Attractions news »

Georhe Clooney is in talks to frontline The Descendants for director Alexander Payne. If he takes the job Clooney will play a father/husband who goes on a search to locate the man who was his wife's secret boyfriend for years. As the director of Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt and Sideways, it sounds like the kind of off kilter dramatic material that Payne is known for.

Variety notes that the film, which is in the chute at Fox Searchlight, would begin filming next February in Hawaii. The movie's screenplay is based on a novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings. »

- Patrick Sauriol

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George Clooney Circles 'Descendants'

2 November 2009 9:05 PM, PST | CinemaSpy | See recent CinemaSpy news »

According to Variety, George Clooney is circling the family dramedy The Descendants, set to be directed by Alexander Payne, the man behind such films as Election, About Schmidt and Sideways. Circling typically means that either Clooney is still deciding, and/or negotiating terms...or that the project is in difficulty and the actor may be preparing to descend in and pick up the project remains.

The story for The Descendents concerns a wealthy landowner who takes his two daughters on a search for his wife's lover in the hopes of keeping his family together.

Penned by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, the screenplay is based on a novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings.

The Descendants, which marks Payne's first feature in five years, is scheduled to begin lensing in February in Hawaii. Fox Searchlight will distribute.

The story sounds a bit improbable for a Clooney film, frankly. It's hard to imagine »

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The Top 10 Most Influential Scores of the Past Decade: #2

6 October 2009 7:00 AM, PDT | SCOREcastOnline.com | See recent SCOREcastOnline.com news »

#2 - American Beauty

(Thomas Newman)

A second-generation member of Hollywood's preeminent musical dynasty, composer Thomas Newman weighs in on our countdown with the #2 most influential score of the past decade: American Beauty.

American Beauty score was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to John Corigliano's "The Red Violin". Perhaps just what kind of influence Newman's score has bestowed on modern film composing can be summed up by a comment on the Movie Music UK website: 

"It's difficult to know what to say about Thomas Newman's score, except that it can probably be summed up by one simple word: unconventional. You only need to look at the list of instruments used in the score's make-up to see what I mean - tablas, kim-kim drums, bird calls, mandolas, Appalachian dulcimers, lap steel guitars, ukuleles, arpeggiated violins, detuned mandolins. And a saz - whatever a saz is."

The fact is »

- noreply@blogger.com (SCOREcast Admin)

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New Trailer and Release Date for ‘Up in the Air’

2 October 2009 8:33 AM, PDT | ScreenRant.com | See recent Screen Rant news »

Chances are you’re familiar with Jason Reitman’s last movie, Juno.  The film garnered him an Academy Award Nomination for Best Director, though screenwriter and former erotic dancer Diablo Cody, along with “it girl” Ellen Page stole most of his thunder.  For most people, Reitman’s name probably doesn’t ring any bells.

With Up in the Air, that might be about to change. And we have a trailer that will show you why.

 

Up in the Air, adapted from a bestselling novel by Walter Kirn, stars George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a middle-aged professional down-sizer.  Bingham spends the majority of his days traveling, going from city to city playing message boy for bosses who don’t have the heart to tell their employees that they’re fired.  His life’s goal is racking up ten million frequent flyer miles; he keeps his relationships casual so he’s free to fly whenever business calls. »

- Brian Gresko

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DVD Review: ‘O’Horten’ Tells of One Odd Fellow

28 September 2009 2:27 PM, PDT | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »

Chicago – The problem with defining yourself by your job, as anyone in this god-awful economy might tell you, is that you probably won’t work forever. Odd Horten, the kind yet unexcitable title character in a strange, little Norwegian comedy by Bent Hamer, has steered locomotives for 40 years, and if you were to take the trains out of this simple fellow’s life, there wouldn’t be much left.

DVD Rating: 2.5/5.0 How devoted is Odd to his occupation? Well, he shuns driving cars and traveling by plane, and he loves wearing his uniform even while off duty. Heck, the guy lives in a house where railroad tracks are literally outside his living room window.

Of course, most of Odd’s friends work on trains too, and they love their jobs as much as he does. For kicks, they’ll get together, listen to recordings of locomotives and quiz one another »

- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

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A Talk with Bent Hamer, on the Subject of a fellow named Odd Horten

22 September 2009 3:03 PM, PDT | The Hollywood Interview | See recent The Hollywood Interview news »

by Terry Keefe

Bent Hamer's O'Horten arrives on DVD today, complete with Interviews with Hamer and composer John Erik Kaada. Below is my talk with Hamer, who I had interviewed previously for his 2004 film Kitchen Stories. This article previously appeared in Venice Magazine.

(Actor Bard Owe in O'Horten, above, and director Bent Hamer, below.)

Norwegian director Bent Hamer has just come back from a walk around the beach in Venice and eagerly relates, “I just saw this house on the beach and it had a sign which said, ‘Hippies, please use kitchen entrance!’” Hamer then laughs, captivated by this little glimmer of absurdity he has discovered. The sign in question actually wouldn’t be out of place in a Bent Hamer film, which are known for mixing visual oddities of the everyday with characters and plots which keep the overall film grounded in reality, somewhat anyway. We last spoke »

- The Hollywood Interview.com

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Blu-Ray Round Up, Aug. 12, 2009: ‘The Last Starfighter,’ ‘Sling Blade,’ ‘The Waterboy’

12 August 2009 2:31 PM, PDT | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »

Chicago – You won’t find the kind of diversity that exists in HollywoodChicago.com’s Blu-Ray Round-Up too many places online. Where else can modern sci-fi mingle with quarter-century-old genre product and hang out with Oscar winners and slapstick comedies? Nowhere.

The Round-Up is our regular informational column about titles that may have slipped under your radar just because they haven’t been on the cover of Entertainment Weekly or in the point-of-purchase slot at your local Blu-Ray store. Today’s edition of the Round-Up is particularly impressive with a massive comedy hit from Adam Sandler, a sci-fi cult classic, a great new TV show, and the film that made Billy Bob Thornton a star.

“Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead” was released on July 28th, 2009.

“Sling Blade,” and “The Waterboy” were released on August 4th, 2009.

“The Last Starfighter” will be released on August 18th, 2009.

“Doctor Who »

- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

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Alexander Payne's Flirtation with Dysfunction

11 August 2009 5:02 PM, PDT | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »

Okay, after all these years, maybe Alexander Payne is doing a little more than flirting with dysfunction.

He's brought to life the manic world of Tracy Flick, teenage sexuality, and cheating spouses with Election, aging pains and hot tub sauciness with About Schmidt, and wine snobbery at its finest with Sideways. He's the man who finds strange books and make them a usually irresistible cinematic experience. He's even gearing up to shoot a film that focuses on people who want to become little people to have a happier retirement. But before that can happen, Payne is going to follow The Descendents, according to Variety.Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Deals

Continue reading Alexander Payne's Flirtation with Dysfunction

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- Monika Bartyzel

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Alexander Payne opts for 'Descendants'

10 August 2009 11:48 PM, PDT | screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news »

Oscar-winning filmmaker Alexander Payne, whose last feature was 2004's splendid comedy "Sideways," will direct Fox Searchlight's upcoming family dramedy "The Descendants."

The film is based on Kaui Hart Hemmings' novel and follows a rich landowner who embarks on a search for his wife's lover with his two daughters. His plan is to do everything it takes to keep his family together.

Nat Faxon and Jim Rash wrote the script, but Payne is currently doing some rewrites, according to Variety. He will shoot the film later this year or early 2010 in Hawaii. Casting has yet to get under way.

Payne also directed "About Schmidt" and "Election." One of his upcoming projects is "Downsizing," a comedy starring Paul Giamatti, Sacha Baron Cohen and Reese Witherspoon. »

- Franck Tabouring

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