This Week in Independent Film
Patrick Fugit (of Almost Famous fame) stars as Zia who finds himself in an afterlife holding area after his attempted suicide. Shannyn Sossamon, Shea Whigham, Tom Waits, Leslie Bibb, Sarah Roemer, and Will Arnett also star. Check out the official site. The film opens in limited release in select cities on Friday. Larger trailer, plus a teaser clip, available in the Full Diagnosis.
Wristcutters: A Love Story
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This Week in Animated Film
The 3-D version of Tim Burton‘s stop-animation vision of a skeleton who tries his hand at Christmas, with disastrous results, gets re-released this Friday in plenty of time for Halloween. Check out the official site. The film opens in theaters everywhere on Friday. Larger trailer available in the Full Diagnosis.
The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D
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We Own the Night
- Title: We Own the Night
- IMDb: link
Studio execs love to take a film and change it in some way to make a different film which can play to the same audiences. Die Hard is a classic example as studios rushed to make Die Hard on a boat (Under Siege), Die-Hard on a plane (Passenger 57, Con Air, Executive Decision), Die-Hard on a train (Under Siege 2: Dark Territory) and many others. The only other thing execs love more (than easy sequel or adaptations) is to combine two different films. Now I don’t know for sure that this is how this film came about but I think it went something like this…
“Hey, I got a great idea for a movie. It came to me as I was watching The Departed”
“I don’t know, I mean Scorsese just did that.”
“No man listen to this. When I finished the movie and popped out the DVD I turned the cable on and there was that Studio 54 flick with Austin Powers.”
“Yeah?”
“We combine the two films!”
“That’s a great idea!”
“Yeah, we can even cast some of the stars of The Departed.”
“Not Nicholson, he’s way too expensive. Hmm, what about Marky-Mark?”
The film’s story centers around nightclub manager Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) whose lifestyle is at odds with his father (Robert Duvall) and brother (Mark Wahlberg) who are hard-nosed NY cops. When his brother is put in charge of a taskforce to clean up the drugs in the city Bobby is forced to examine his life and choose between his family and his friends and business partners.
What you expect is what you get. Phoenix acts moody, crazy, and looks like he needs a good night sleep. Wahlberg is a tough and stand-up guy (sadly without the humor of his Departed character), Duvall is the hardboiled but loving father, and Eva Mendes is the girlfriend (or more accurate – the whining eye-candy).
The story is good though not great and the incident that forces Bobby to help his father and brother is well executed (although I would have liked to have seen more time spent on the fallout). The film also includes several sequences which are both engaging and compelling including a most memorable car chase and a tour and an escape from a drug house.
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Elizabeth, Take Two
- Title: Elizabeth: The Golden Age
- IMDb: link
Director Shekhar Kapur‘s follow-up to 1998’s Elizabeth is something of a train wreck, a lush and well acted train wreck to be sure, but a train wreck none the less.
Where the first movie chronicled Elizabeth’s (Cate Blanchett) rise to the throne this film splits in focus in many directions including the Queen’s fascination and friendship with the explorer Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen), court intrigue and her relationship with one of her ladies in waiting, the “other” Elizabeth (Abbie Cornish), Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush) investigating and torturing traitors, the plot to assassinate the Queen and to put Mary Queen of Scots (Samantha Morton) on the throne, the machinations of King Phillip II of Spain (Jordi Molla), and the war between England and Spain. If that’s not enough we also get subplots including Elizabeth’s (Cornish) brother (Steven Robertson), Walsingham’s son (Adam Godley), a burgeoning relationship between Elizabeth (Cornish) and Raleigh.
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Across the Universe
- Title: Across the Universe
- IMDb: link
“All you need is love.”
The film begins with an English dock worker named Jude (Jim Sturgess) who travels to America to find his father. His journey takes him to a college where he befriends a screw-up named Max (Joe Anderson) and falls head-over-heels for Max’s sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood).
Traveling to NY with Max Jude finds himself living with a nightclub singer (Dana Fuchs), a guitar player (Martin Luther), and a young lesbian named Prudence (T.V. Carpio) struggling with her place in the world. Making a living as an artist and designer Jude enjoys his new world until the terrors of war fracture the group’s fragile peace.
What follows is an exploration of love against the backdrop of the 1960’s, Vietnam, civil unrest, violence, and change. Max is drafted, Lucy becomes a civil activist, fame and glory strain the relationship between Sadie and JoJo. The world changes and each struggles once again to find their place in it, stay true to themselves, and grow and change with the times.
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