Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) is a hands on director in "Hitchcock"
BY NATHANIEL ROGERS
YOUR FEATURE PRESENTATION
The first thing HITCHCOCK gets right about Hitchcock is the humor. Director Sacha Gervasi's serio-comic adaptation of the book "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho" starts with a playful dodge, beginning not with a shot of that infamous house on the hill or the Bates Motel or even a Hollywood soundstage but in the rather humble yard of a Wisconsin farm. It's home to Ed Gein, the gruesome 1950s killer who inspired Psycho. The camera pans away from Gein's (fictional) murder to reveal the iconic plump suited figure of The Master of Suspense cooly observing him (Sir Anthony Hopkins in Sir Alfred Hitchcock drag).
Hopkins addresses the camera directly as if he's welcoming you to a very special edition of television's "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" or recording a promo for his latest cinematic thrill ride. He'll break the fourth wall again to bookend this film with an even better visual joke that's absurdly hokey.
The humor is the first thing Hitchcock gets right but whether or not it
gets anything else right is another matter. MORE AFTER THE JUMP...
Continue reading "Movies: 'Hitchcock' (and the Best Actor Race)" »
Arthur in the Batsuit. The Schumacher Batsuit of course, the one with the nipples.
NATHANIEL ROGERS
...would live in the movie theater but for the poor internet reception. He blogs daily at the Film Experience. Follow him on Twitter @nathanielr.
YOUR FEATURE PRESENTATION
The more things change the more they stay the same? The comedy Arthur (1981) opened during a recession and high unemployment rates. Here we are again in 2011 when all but the richest are hurting and that drunken millionaire is rearing his head again. He's hoping you'll laugh with him or at him -- either will do as he has no shame. The first time around audiences did just that. They embraced Arthur's reckless entitlement and threw millions more into his seemingly bottomless coffer, turning the film into one of the biggest blockbusters of early 80s cinema.
The remake, also named ARTHUR (2011) is in some ways a recreation with virtually the same character in a nearly identical plot. The few changes are cosmetic though Arthur's net worth hasn't changed all that much, rising from $750 million to $950 million, which has to be the smallest bump that any über-wealthy American has received over the past 30 years of the country's widening economic gap. "Hobson," Arthur's confidant, protector and enabler is also virtually the same but for a gender change: goodbye Sir Gielgud, hello Dame Mirren.
Greta Gerwig has the unenviable task of stepping in for Liza Minnelli.
MORE, AFTER THE JUMP...
Continue reading "Movies: A Tale of Two Arthurs " »
Tilda Swinton reaches for another Narnia paycheck
NATHANIEL ROGERS
...lives for the the tail end of each year. That's when Oscar buzz wags the film dog. He blogs daily at the Film Experience. Follow him on Twitter @nathanielr.
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If the last Narnia film is any indication, The White Witch's appearance in THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER will be the sum total of her screentime in the movie. We see Tilda Swinton floating in the sky like the goddess she is, hand lifted and opened. Waiting for her paycheck perhaps? Someone has to foot the bill for her film festival globe trotting, avant garde fashions, wondrous cinephile activism and her preference for brilliant but uncommercial cinema last year's Julia and this year's I Am Love (now on DVD - don't miss it). For this reason, and this reason alone, we salute the utterly bland Narnia films. Keep Tilda in the black.
Also Opening: Crackhead Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale) trains half brother Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) in THE FIGHTER. Wahlberg's Micky may be the champ within the movie but Bale's Dicky is the one going home with a certain naked gold man next February.
MORE AFTER THE JUMP...
Continue reading "Movies:
Tilda's Paycheck, Christian's Oscar, Helen's Tempest, Ryan's Meme" »
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