Trailer Alert: Jude Law Edition

A number of high-profile trailers have been released in the past few days, so it seemed like a fitting time for rundown of what we can expect to see in the coming months. That is, a lot of Jude Law.

Contagion

Release Date: September 9, 2011

Contagion looks a bit different from what I expected. I thought it would be more of a contained story about the scientists trying to stop the disease. But I am totally down for this sweeping, borderline-apocalyptic thriller. Aside from what seems to be a pretty major spoiler about a character death (I’m sure it happens early in the film, but still), I really like the trailer. I’m not a big Soderbergh fan, but this might be the film that turns it around for me. Law and Damon seem to be going “big” with their performances, but I imagine that will fit better in context. And Hawkes looks great, even just from his one line in the trailer. This looks like a good ol’ fashioned thriller with a top-notch cast, and that exactly what I want it to be.

Hugo

Release Date: November 23, 2011

Not to be a complete Negative Nancy, but I can’t help but think that this looks lame. Like, really lame. I know it’s based on a kid’s book and is largely aimed at kids, but I was expecting more from a Scorsese film. Not all of his films have to be The Departed, but I thought this would have a little more heft to it. Instead, it seems overly focused on the special effects, which seem copious. Though I was invested at first (partly thanks to Jude Law’s kindly presence), the trailer quickly became a numbing, frenzied mess of CGI. A little “whimsy” goes a long way for me in movies. And though I normally like Sascha Baron Cohen, his character is already annoying me. It looks like a poor man’s Harry Potter. But hopefully Hugo is better than the trailer looks.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Release Date: December 16, 2011

Even though Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are two of my favourite actors, I was a bit underwhelmed with the first Sherlock Holmes movie. It wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t that…good, either. And it looks like more of the same for the sequel. The trailer doesn’t offer much that is new or interesting (but man, it could sure use some more super slo-mo, right?). I don’t know, it looks okay, I guess, but I just don’t have much to say about it. And are we really reusing the exact same joke again at the end of the trailer? Between this and The Hangover II I’m getting some serious 2009 film-related amnesia this year.

John Carter

Release Date: March 9, 2012

There are a lot of things that I like about Friday Night Lights. But if I had to pick the most watchable aspect of the show, it would definitely be Taylor Kitsch as the brooding, oddly multifaceted ne’er-do-well, Tim Riggins. So it’s fun to see him get a leading role in The Prince of Persia John Carter. That said, I have no idea what to make of this movie. The trailer was interesting, in a bizarre, hard-to-follow kind of way. IMDB tells me the following: “Civil War vet John Carter is transplanted to Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants are 12-foot tall green barbarians.” It also tells me that Samantha Morton, Bryan Cranston, Thomas Hayden Chuch, Mark Strong (gee, do you think he’s playing a villain?), and Willem Defoe are in this movie, yet I spotted NONE of them in the trailer. But I’m still very intrigued by this. It could be an incoherent, overly serious mess of CGI, but moments in the trailer seemed legitimately epic and impressive.

ALSO: I just realised that John Carter is the first live-action film by Wall-E and Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton. Those were two of Pixar’s most visually dazzling films, so that kind of explains visual scope that we see here. I am even more hopeful now.

The Thing

Release Date: October 14

Monster movies are always in style, so it makes sense that they would reboot another franchise. This time, it’s The Thing, and it stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and Joel Edgerton (Animal Kingdom). I’m not a big horror fan, but The Thing actually looks better than I expected. It certainly doesn’t appear to offer anything new, but the whole “who among us isn’t human?” premise is often entertaining. Winstead seems to be a capable leading lady here, and I’m always intrigued by Edgerton (though he didn’t have much to do in the trailer other than look concerned). I won’t be rushing out to see it, but The Thing looks like it could potentially be a cut above the usual horror fare.

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2011 Oscar Post-Mortem

My predictions ended up with an iffy 14/24 accuracy. Not great, but adequate, I’d say. And am I disappointed that The Social Network lost to The King’s Speech? Yes, but it seems like my favourite movie of the year is always nominated, but never wins. But now to the telecast, which I thought, for the most part, was pretty enjoyable.

Highs

• Anne Hathaway. She did a much better job hosting than I’d expected (here I was thinking that James Franco would be the one to liven things up…) Her boundless exuberance was just the remedy for a lagging, overly long ceremony (as the Oscars often are). She cheered, she sang, she poked fun at herself, and she had an endless array of gorgeous outfits.
• The opening. Inception, The Social Network, True Grit, The King’s Speech, and Black Swan all received visits from Hathaway and Franco, and the cameos from Alec Baldwin and Morgan Freeman were nice touches.
• The unending love for Hugh Jackman. He’s kind of become the new Jack Nicholson. He’s not nominated, he just sits there and smiles and has a good time. The presenters and winners seem happy to see him, and he becomes something of a touchstone for them to play off of.
• James Franco’s grandma.
• Kirk Dougals’ epic presentation for Best Supporting Actress.
• Justin Timberlake’s riff on Kirk Douglas’ epic presentation.
• Zachary Levi performing “I See the Light” from Tangled. Mandy Moore sounded great, too, but for someone who is not primarily a singer (I didn’t even know he could sing before Tangled), Levi came off as a total pro.
• “That’s gross” – Cate Blanchett
• Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law’s presentation for Best Visual Effects. Can they just get married already?
• No clapping during the “In Memoriam” segment. Good call.
• Sandra Bullock’s presentation to the Best Actor nominees. It was the perfect balance of wit and respect.

Lows

• The auto-tuned “Year of the movie musical” segment that they created. The Twilight one was kind of amusing, but the others were lazy and tedious.
• The framing of certain categories with clips from classic movies. It felt a bit forced and random to me, and seemed to unnecessarily lengthen the telecast.
• Melissa Leo’s speech. Sorry, but I didn’t find it charming. It was kind of annoying and fake, in my opinion. She rambled, and the f-bomb wasn’t interesting.
• Kind of: James Franco. He had some pretty funny moments (the white unitard, the Marilyn Monroe getup), but he generally seemed out of step with the rest of the ceremony. I don’t think that he was as terrible as some people are saying, but perhaps not the ideal host.
• The finale. I feel like a heartless bitch, but dragging all those 5^th graders up on stage just seemed like the most contrived, obvious finish the show could have gone for.
• This is kind of a random note, but I would have liked to see a broader scope in terms of the films that they celebrated. Not even in terms of the winners, but just which films got shown/mentioned throughout the broadcast. There were two lengthy montages for the Best Picture nominees, but scarcely a glimpse of any other 2010 films. I get that the show is about the nominees and winners, but the Oscars should also be about celebrating the film industry in general. What about non-winners like The Town, Tron: Legacy, Shutter Island, Easy A, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Kick-Ass, and Jack-Ass 3-D? They all found devoted fanbases and helped make 2010 the year that it was in film.

Best Speeches

• Colin Firth (Best Actor, The King’s Speech). Always a class act. The wry humour was wonderful, and I love that he’s sang the praises of Tom Ford all season.
• Natalie Portman (Best Actress, Black Swan). I liked that she thanked the behind-the-scenes people on set, as well as the people that helped her get where she is.
• Lee Unkrich (Best Animated Picture, Toy Story 3). He gave a gracious, inspiring, economical, and eloquent speech.
• Luke Matheny (Best Live Action Short Film, God of Love). Matheny probably never thought that his NYU school project would win an Oscar, and his surprise and exuberance was refreshingly sincere. It’s nice to see a “regular” person outside of the big Hollywood machine get recognition.

Best Red Carpet Fashion:

There is no gene for the human spirit.

Movie Marathon Madness: Jude Law

Chris Rock’s comment at the 2005 Oscars about the omnipresence of Jude Law was apt (despite Sean Penn’s protests), seeing as Law appeared in six different films in 2004 alone. Maybe it’s because of his inescapability in 2004, or the infidelity in his personal life which marred his career, but I’ve never given Law a fair shake as an actor. To add insult to injury, I recently realised that I haven’t even seen many of his films, yet decided that I just didn’t like him. And somehow, I don’t think that The Holiday, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events would be the three films in his filmography that Jude Law would choose to convert fans.

But over the past couple of weeks, I’ve caught three very fun supporting performances from Law. I didn’t consciously choose to watch these three films because he was in them, but I started to feel more excited about the idea of watching Law with each film. In last year’s Sherlock Holmes reboot, Law plays the persnickety Dr. Watson to Robert Downey Jr.’s sly Sherlock. Before watching it, I was uninterested in Law’s performance, but as I watched his chemistry with Downey and his on-screen charisma, the performance became one of the highlights of the film for me.

Next, I watched 1997’s dystopian Gattaca. I watched it mainly because of Ethan Hawke, yet Law was the one who ended up serving as a kinetic beacon in an otherwise solid but dreary film. As a genetically perfect man now confined to a wheelchair, Law evokes the frustration and disconnect that we would expect from such a character. But beyond that, his biting sense of humour prevents the character from merely blending into the bleak landscape.

His work in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator is so brief that it could be considered a cameo, but though he only has one scene to work with, Law makes his mark playing the sly Errol Flynn. In a sprawling film full of strong performances, Law’s ability to stand out so comfortably is perhaps what finally won me over on his acting skills.

But that doesn’t erase the fact that I’ve somehow missed seeing every major performance by this acclaimed actor. So I’ve decided to start working my way through the highlights of Law’s filmography. Based on acclaim, fan favourites, and variety, I’ve decided to watch these five films over the next little while. I’ve never done a planned marathon before, so we’ll see how it goes. But hopefully I’ll get a chance to write a bit about each film after watching them:

• The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) (Oscar Nomination)
  
• Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
  
• Road to Perdition (2002)
  
• Cold Mountain (2003) (Oscar Nomination)
• I Heart Huckabees (2004)