WATCH: Full Prometheus Trailer

The new film  Prometheus from Oscar-nominated director Ridley Scott (Aliens, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Thelma & Louise) looks increasingly like it is the film to beat this summer despite the release of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. The extended trailer has now been released. The script was co-written by  Lost executive producer Damon Lindelof.
Check it out, the trailer looks amazing. The movie stars Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce and Noomi Rapace
Hat/tip to Nikke Finke.

MOVIE REVIEW: Pariah

The film Pariah has been enjoying a very positive buzz in film circles. I saw the short version of this film at the 2007 Fusion (LGBT People of Color) film festival in Los Angeles and was quite impressed. The 2007 short was only 27 minutes long but was clearly one of the best things at the film festival.

The production team for the feature film version of Pariah is the same as the one who created the original short: writer-director Dee Rees and producer Nekisa Cooper. Except this time the feature has some high-profile Executive Producers (most notably Spike Lee).

The plot is about the coming-of-age story of a Black lesbian named Alike (whose friends call her Lee and whose family members call her Alike). There is an astonishing scene in the beginning of the film in which Alike and her (rather butch looking) friend Laura are at lesbian club (complete with female strippers) where Alike is visibly uncomfortable but Laura fits right in. They take the bus home and Alike demurs when Laura asks whether she should stay on the bus past her own stop in order to see her friend safely home. The reason for this becomes clear. As soon as Laura leaves, Alike transforms herself from a gender non-conforming butch (though even under all her thuggish drag her female attractiveness still shines through) into a proper feminine daughter, applying make-up, putting on earrings, removing her do-rag and taking off her shirt to reveal a blouse underneath. It is an astonishing moment where the inherent conflict of the character is depicted with stark clarity: she has two identities, only one which is acceptable at home.

How the story evolves is not something that we haven't seen before (after all, at their core all coming-of-age stories and coming-out stories are basically the same) but it never seems pedestrian due to two things: the acting and the verisimilitude of the story. The performance by Adepero Oduye  lights up the screen and Kim Wayans as her mother is difficult to watch because it seems to real (and repellent). The story unspools in a very realistic manner which keeps the audience engaged and when it ends you are sad, but very happy that you went on the journey.

Title: Pariah.
Director: Dee Rees.
Running Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for some violent images and brief nudity.
Release Date: January 1, 2012.
Viewing Date: January 22, 2012.

Plot: B+.
Acting: A+.
Visuals: A-.
Impact: A.

Overall Grade: B/B+ (3.25/4.0).

MOVIE REVIEW: Hugo

The Other Half really wanted to see Hugo and I was amenable, so we saw it in 3-D at the Arclight Cinemas in Pasadena. All I knew about the movie going in was that it was directed by Martin Scorsese. 


Last week Hugo became the most Oscar-nominated film of 2011 with 11 nominations (Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design, Original Score, Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects). It joins 21 other films which have received exactly 11 nominations (there are 25 films which have received more than 11 nominations). Only The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won all 11 Oscars for which it is nominated and Hugo is unlikely to win that many since it received exactly zero nominations in the acting categories (but it is one of only 3 films to ever get nominations in all 7 of the technical categories).

The film stars Oscar winner Ben Kingsley as Georges Méliès, Asa Butterfield as Hugo Cabret and Chloë Grace Moretz as Isabelle. Hugo is a young boy who lives in a Paris train station, maintaining the clocks. Sacha Baron Cohen plays the Station Inspector, who patrols the station with his large, vicious-looking dog, looking for rule-breakers. The screenplay was adapted by John Logan from the best-selling children's novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, written by Brian Selznick.

The audience is first introduced to Hugo living alone in the station, surviving by stealing food and living on his own in the roof of the station. Hugo and his father (played by Jude Law) had an amazing automaton (mechanical man) which is now broken. Hugo is desperately trying to find a heart-shaped key which will possibly allow the automaton to run again. He runs into Isabelle, who is the niece of Kingsley's character. A bitter old man who runs a toy store in the station who catches Hugo trying to steal something and punishes him by confiscating a notebook containing Hugo's father's sketches. Hugo entreats Isabelle to help him get the notebook back and they become partners in crime and go on adventures together.

The movie is in 3-D and Scorsese provides a captivating look and feel to the film which makes excellent use of the technology. The acting and impact of the story are not as effective. I don't want to reveal too much of the plot but although the movie is a feast for the eyes there were several moments where the interactions and motivations of the characters just rang strangely false.

That being said, the movie is worth seeing, but despite all its acclaim from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I don't think Hugo is one of the Top 9 achievements in film for 2011.

Title: Hugo.
Director: Martin Scorsese.
Running Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for some violent images and brief nudity.
Release Date: November 23, 2011.
Viewing Date: January 14, 2012.

 Plot: B.
Acting: B+.
Visuals: A-.
Impact: B.

Overall Grade: B/B+ (3.25/4.0).

FILM REVIEW: The Iron Lady

The Other Half and I finally saw Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, on the MLK holiday. As expected, it is an acting tour de force from La Streep, definitely worthy of an Oscar. As expected, Streep was received her record 17th Oscar nomination (14th as Best Actress) this week. She already has two Oscars (1982's Best Actress, Sophie's Choice; 1979's Best Supporting Actress, Kramer vs. Kramer) at home but it's been nearly 30 years since her last win. Come on, people, she's the greatest actor of all time, so she should have the highest award for excellence in film acting, the Academy Award.

Anyway, the particular vehicle which Meryl Streep is using to attempt to win her 3rd Oscar is a biography of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It really is pretty incredible source material. It seems like a cliche, but sometimes truth is really harder to believe than fiction. A person who was the daughter of the owner of a greengrocer becomes the first female head of state of one of the countries who have a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, in other words, one of the world's superpowers. And she ends up becoming the longest serving Prime Minister of her country in the 20th century.

The screenplay is by Abi Morgan, and is somewhat unconventional. Most of the story is told as flashbacks from an elderly (and clearly mentally infirm) Lady Thatcher after she is no longer Prime Minister and is still daling with the death of her longtime husband Denis Thatcher from a decade before.
Denis is played well by Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent. The make-up on Meryl is stunning, so that not only is she doing an incredibly accurate impersonation of Margaret Thatcher as we remember her from the 1980s, but also a very believable look as a very old woman. We are used to seeing Meryl disappear into her characters, so one doesn't think one is seeing Meryl Streep on screen *acting* but instead one is following the travails of her character. The Iron Lady is another one of those cinematic experiences.

The sections of the film which follow Thatcher's rise to power and depict some of her important  moments in power are the high points of the film and are quite exciting. The problem is that they are bookended by returns to the present day with a portrayal of a feeble-minded, depressing Thatcher as a lonely, needy old woman. The acting is impeccable throughout, despite despising Thatcher's politics, Streep makes your empathize with the humanity of her situation. In fact, the film is surprisingly apolitical, mainly including politics to show Thatcher's consistent philosophy without ever really questioning its impact on people and effectiveness.

Overall, The Iron Lady is worth seeing for Meryl Streep's astonishing performance as well as an  interesting excursion through 1980s Great Britain.

Title: The Iron Lady.
Director: Phyllida Lloyd.
Running Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for some violent images and brief nudity.
Release Date: January 13, 2012.
Viewing Date: January 16, 2012.

Plot: B-.
Acting: A+.
Visuals: A-.
Impact: B+.

Overall Grade: B+ (3.50/4.0).

WATCH: Trailer for 2012's The Hobbit