Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Issue

(click to enlarge)

Vanity Fair, March 2011

Yes, please.

Brief thoughts:

– LOL @ Robert Duvall

– I like everyone on here (I’ve yet to see any of Jennifer Lawrence’s or Noomi Rapace’s films, but they seem cool, I guess?). I would’ve rolled my eyes at Olivia Wilde (especially in that outfit), but I thought she was surprisingly good in TRON: Legacy.

– Rapace and Anthony Mackie (who is fabulous in The Hurt Locker and Half Nelson) are unexpected choices, but it’s nice to see a broader spectrum of actors here (in other words, I’m glad that they didn’t just pick a bunch of twiggy little starlets…though I wouldn’t have minded seeing Emma Stone on here. But I digress.)

– I like that they’re mixing more established actors (the four lovely folks on the first panel) with smart choices in newer actors. Garfield, Hedlund, and Lawrence were practically unknowns a year ago, but they’re three actors who seem to have a bright future ahead. And I like that Jesse Eisenberg, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Mila Kunis, who have been acting for years are finally getting their due.

– The men all look verrrrry dapper 😉

Advertisement

Well, Folks, I Saw It…

…and it was pretty fucking awesome. Not quite the masterpiece that some have been calling it (but virtually no movie is), but still a total ride. Going to a film opening day is almost unheard of for me (something about my extreme cheapness and distaste of crowds puts me off), but I’m so glad that I went.

I just wrote an 800-word review for my school’s paper, so I don’t feel like elaborating too much, but I will say that I love Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield even more now, if that were possible. Still not convinced about their award season prospects, but they’re both quite deserving. Jesse Eisenberg was actually kind of scary in it, in the best way possible. And yay for Andrew Garfield’s little black boxers!

David Fincher’s the man, and he’s done it again. Maybe it’s not quite on Zodiac level, but it’s pretty close.

The final shots of the film were so perfect (though I was kind of not expecting it to end right then). Very sad, in a way, but it seemed like the only way it could have ended.

GO SEE IT. RIGHT NOW.

9/10

Trailer Alert: The Social Network (full trailer)

 Well, folks, it’s here. It’s the first trailer for The Social Network where we get to see some of the actual movie. The film, helmed by David Fincher (Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), stars Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield as two college students who team up to create a little website known as Facebook.

I really, really like this trailer. A lot of the dialogue will sound familiar to those who watched the teasers, but the accompanying images from the film look great. It looks like Eisenberg is branching out from his usual character to some extent, and Garfield provides a great kinetic energy, from the looks of things.

I love the opening (though I was momentarily concerned that it would make up the whole of the trailer), with all of the oh-so familiar ticks of Facebook that have now become part of our culture, and the use of a choral version of Radiohead’s “Creep” fits really well.

The film looks a bit heavier than I’d expected, but I really like the muted tone. This could make The Social Network a bigger awards contender than originally thought.

I’ll probably watch this trailer once more, and then try to avoid clips and info about the movie until its release to prevent my expectations from getting any higher than they already are. I’m cool like that.

Is Young Talent Being Wasted on Superhero Movies?

I like a good superhero movie as much as the next person. I really liked the first two Spider-Man and X-Men movies, and The Dark Knight even found its way into my top 10 movies of the decade list. But I feel like we’re getting a huge overkill of suited-up action capers. Now we’re even getting superhero franchise reboots within five years of each other, and a lot of Hollywood’s most promising young stars are suiting up.

The cast of X-Men: First Class is coming together nicely. James McAvoy (Wanted, Atonement) is playing a young Professor Xavier, while Michael Fassbender (Hunger, Inglourious Basterds) will play his nemesis, Magneto. And just today, it was announced that Nicholas Hoult (A Single Man, About a Boy) will be taking on the role of Beast, while Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) is rumoured to be playing a young Cyclops. As much as I like all four actors, I feel like the X-Men movie franchise wore out its welcome a while ago. X-Men: The Last Stand (if only it had lived up to its title) was borderline awful, and last year’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine felt totally unnecessary.

The same goes for news of the Spider-Man reboot, which will star Andrew Garfield (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus). As well, Chris Evans (who is no stranger to superhero movies) will be taking on Captain America, with An Education‘s Dominic Cooper joining the supporting cast.

But I suppose most actors try the mainstream at some point in their career, if they can. Even Joseph Gordon-Levitt, an actor known for his decidedly smaller film choices, is making his way to IMAX screens with his work in Inception, and his upcoming roles in thrillers Premium Rush and Looper.

To be clear, I don’t blame any young actor for taking a role in a big-budget movie. The goal is to get your name out there and increase your paycheck, and starring in films like Boy A and Rory O’Shea Was Here for the rest of your life is hardly the best way to accomplish that. But as I see more and more of my favourite young actors sign on to these superhero romps, I can’t help but feel slightly disheartened. As great of an opportunity as a big role in a summer blockbuster can be, I feel like a lot of these actors were already on the rise. And maybe I just take my movies to seriously, but I’d much rather see talented actors in roles that push them and evoke emotion from me. Even when I see Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man, which is undeniably fun, I kind of just wish that I was watching him in a different movie, instead. It’s not so much that I’m blaming the actors for taking the roles (because, really, who could resist?), it’s more that I’m getting sick of superhero/comic book adaptations.

**(Side Note: Now that I think about it, perhaps the parade of highly-coifed photos at the top of this post, while quite enjoyable, doesn’t really fit with my plea to respect acting skill over marketability… But that doesn’t mean I’m going to ditch the eye candy any time soon.)

Trailer Alert: The Social Network (Teaser Trailer #2)

After it was announced that David Fincher’s The Social Network will be making it’s world debut at the New York Film Festival, a second teaser for the movie was released. A lot of the voice-over is the same as what appeared in the first trailer, but I really like the IM subtitling of what they’re saying. According to /Film, a full-length trailer is on the way.