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There are those films that you watch and, as soon as your done crying, perhaps slobbering, and catching your breath again, you vow never to watch that film ever again...even though it's one of the best you've ever seen and want to recommend it to everyone you see on the street.
That's how I feel about Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father. The documentary takes a bit of explaining and is somewhat complex, as most truly great documentaries are.
Dear Zachary was made by filmmaker Kurt Kuenne as a way for Zachary, a relative newborn, to get to know his father in the words of those who loved him the most. Zachary's father, Andrew, was killed in 2001, before he was born. Andrew was killed by his former lover, Shirley, who also happens to be Zachary's mother. So, in order for Zachary to one day know his father, Kuenne interviews anyone he could find who knew Andrew, starting from his childhood and ending with the morning that he died.
The film then turns into a chronicle of the legal battle Andrew's parents, Zachary's grandparents, enter to try to not only get Shirley convicted of the murder (she got away initially on technicalities and shoddy prosecution, in the eyes of everyone in the documentary, and fled to Canada), but to win full custody of Zachary.
Kuenne takes all of the interviews that he has culled and uses all of his filmmaking experience to give the audience a gut-punch of emotion. Dear Zachary will have you feeling a gigantic range of emotions: wishing you had known Andrew Bagby when he was alive, such a warm and funny soul; straining from laughter at the stories that are told about Andrew; wanting to save Zachary from his less-than-stable mother; sympathy for Zachary's grandparents at having to deal with the tragic death of their son and then the battle to have a piece of him with them.
Dear Zachary is also so different from other documentaries because not only is Kuenne a great documentarian, but he was also Andrew's best friend. He didn't read about the story in some newspaper and decide to make a film about it. For Kuenne, Dear Zachary is truly a passion project, which shows in every frame of film and second of cold, tragic narration.
Like I said, Dear Zachary hurts. It hurts bad. It hurts like few movies do. But, it's a good hurt. It's a hurt that you will want to tell others about and give them the DVD and warn them that, even though it's heartbreaking, you will be so moved and touched and somewhat lifted by the entire package that they should watch it anyway.
This week, Dear Zachary came out on DVD and I'm really tempted to buy it. But, I feel, whether I buy it or not, everyone should at least put it in their Netflix queue (it is also available via Netflix's Instant Viewing streaming) and be ready to be truly and deeply moved.
A while back we reported on the disappointing news that the economic crisis killed any possibility that Samuel L. Jackson would be taking on the role of Nick Fury for Iron Man 2. But today comes some great news because according to Variety, Samuel L. Jackson and Marvel have come to an agreement not only for his portrayal of Nick Fury in the sequel to Iron Man, but the potential appearance in as many as nine other Marvel films.
This deal would obviously include involvement in the eventual film for the ensemble hero team The Avengers and maybe the other individual hero films leading up to it (including Thor and Captain America). Variety also references another title called The Shield which I can only assume would follow the exploits of the unit known as S.H.I.E.L.D., but this is the first I've heard of it. So maybe there's an as yet officially unannounced movie dedicated specifically to Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.
Let's hope that this deal sets the tone for some more happy endings to negotiations (mainly for Mickey Rourke who is on again/off again as a potential villain in Iron Man 2 following a lowball offer from Marvel for the role). Iron Man 2 is set for release May 7, 2010 with principal photography set to begin this spring.
The day after Slumdog Millionaire's big Oscar win, much of the cast that was flown from Mumbai enjoyed their success by celebrating in Disneyland (pictured left). But only recently was some of this film's great success rightfully shared with a couple of the young cast members who so magnificently brought the fairytale story and its characters to life.
Almost a month ago, UK periodical The Telegraph ran a story highlighting the unimproved livelihoods of two of the child actors. Rubiana Ali and Azharuddin Ismail who play the youngest versions of main characters Latika and Salim respectively, were discovered to still be living in impoverished conditions in Mumbai and apparently not compensated very well for their work in the film.
The article highlights support via money that continues to come each month for books (filmmakers did help to get the children into school for the first time) as well as food. The article also notes that a trust fund was established for the child actors to receive if they are still in school when they turn 18. However, the negative here is the payment for the actual work for filming. The child actors were paid considerably less than the comparable situation when poor Afghan children starred in the film The Kite Runner. This has resulted in Rubiana and Azharuddin to still be living in the slums.
Until now that is. Danny Boyle as well as a local housing association in Mumbai have both acted to provide the actors and their families with quality residences (as reported by UK's The Daily Mail). While this sentiment is very thoughtful and fantastic, my question is why the hell didn't this happen sooner? Fox Searchlight really couldn't afford to get these kids into a nicer place? Even a hotel would have been better than their former state (as you can see in pictures evidenced in the article itself). I could understand maybe some sort of delay or hesitation with as many kids that appeared in the film, but the other central child actors are either middle class or pretty well-off in their own right. In the meantime these children who worked to make this film the genuine spectacle and wonder that it was got the shaft.
I think it's great that movement has been made by Boyle, Fox Searchilight, and Mumbai officials to keep these children safe and nourished, but the fact that the action to get them into real residences is only now just happening after the Oscar win seems like damage control to me. Boyle was obviously aware of the problems that may arise from using or not using real children from the slums for the movie when he told The LA Times "It was a difficult moral question. Do you exclude kids from the slums? If you exclude them, then it feels morally wrong. But if you include them, it raises another set of moral questions -- how do you care for them after the movie is finished?" While they were aware of this predicament, it seems very odd and disappointing that there was even one minute after this movie was finished filming that these children had to return to their impoverished homes for anything other than to pack their stuff, collect their familes and live in a real home. Anyway, it's good to see these kids getting what they deserve.
Gore Verbinski Goes from Pirates to Murder with 'Clue'
All right, Hasbro, let's calm down a little shall we. Transformers was a fun flick okay and we admitted it. But then you started getting crazy. Ridley Scott is attached to direct a movie based off the real estate trading game Monopoly (thrilling), Candyland is on its way to giving us a cavity (sweet), and Stretch Armstrong will be stretching into big screens soon enough (insert stretchy joke here).
Now we're looking at a film based off another Habsro property, but this one has already seen a decent adaptation. Variety announced Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski is lined up for an update to Hasbro's classic murdery mystery game Clue.
Of all the aforementioned Hasbro product based films coming out, this game is certainly one that has the potential for a decent narrative. The only problem is we've already seen this play out in the very enjoyable first adaptation of this game with Tim Curry, Michael McKean, Christopher Lloyd and Madeline Kahn and I just don't know if this is necessary. An updated cast might give the film a fresh facelift, but the real question is whether or not the film will have the same dark comedic tone as the original or will just go all out serious murder mystery.
For me what would really peak my interest is if they went the route of the original film and released it to the public with several endings at different theaters. We're all used to the ending on the DVD that simply lays out the 3 different endings for us, but when it was released in theaters, depending on where you saw the movie, your ending could've been completely different than another audience's experience. Unless something on along that lines is brought to the table, then I just don't see this being anything more than dust in the wind. Who knows how long it will be before this comes out anyway what with Verbinski also being attached to Rango (with Johnny Depp), a re-make of the cult classic Heavy Metal, and an adaptation of the video game Bioshock.
While I enjoyed the first Shrek, I must say the sequels are only getting worse. Shrek 2 certainly contained some of the charm and edgier family fare that the first executed so nicely, but Shrek the Third was just boring and stumbled over itself. Now we have a plot synopsis that helpful blogger Alex Litel stumbled upon via some sort of copyright registration website for the fourth installment of the unconventional fairy tale franchise. Actual page (of copyright site) cannot be found now, but luckily he copied the synopsis to his site.
Shrek Goes Fourth - After challenging an evil dragon, rescuing a beautiful princess and saving your in-laws' kingdom, what's an ogre to do? Well, if you're Shrek, you suddenly wind up a domesticated family man. Instead of scaring villagers away like he used to, a reluctant Shrek now agrees to autograph pitch forks. What's happened to this ogre's roar? Longing for the days when he felt like a "real ogre," Shrek is duped into signing a pact with the smooth-talking dealmaker, Rumplestiltskin. Shrek suddenly finds himself in a in a twisted, alternate version of Far Far Away, where ogres are hunted, Rumplestiltskin is king and Shrek and Fiona have never met. Now, it's up to Shrek to undo all he's done in the hopes of saving his friends, restoring his world and reclaiming his one True Love.
While the Shrek series isn't as fresh as it started out, their plots are usually top notch, but the writing has been less than remarkable. I just don't know how long Mike Myers can be mediocre before he implodes upon himself either. Hopefuly his turn in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds will help. Will you see Shrek Goes Fourth?
Got a bunch of updates, so PAY ATTENTION!
Ghostbusters 3 - We've known that a script was being worked on by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky (producers of NBC's The Office), but now we have word from Dan Aykroyd answering some online questions for The Boston Globe that "Script is commenced early summer. Hope to be in production by late fall 2009." Weird wording, but this is great news for everyone who has ever hoped for another Ghostbusters.
Terminator: Salvation - Linda Hamilton is in negotiations to reprise her role of Sarah Connor for the next installment of the Terminator series...sort of. MTV Movies Blog reports that while she won't be appearing on screen, her role is said to simply be voiceover. This is a nice way to bridge the mythology gap that always seems to exist between franchise sequels that are more than a few years apart. This will be a nice way to give cohesion to the series, and help us to continue forgetting Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn - The blog Upcoming Film Scores reports that John Williams will be scoring the first installment of the forthcoming Tintin trilogy which is set to be directed by longtime collaborator Steven Spielberg. This isn't much of a surprise as there aren't too many Spielberg films Williams hasn't composed music for. This just guarantees that we'll have a great score to accompany what should be a great start to a hopefully fun new film series.
Ebert and Roeper Return? - In his weekly online Q&A from his website, Roger Ebert fielded a question that resulted in some interesting information. In running through the gamut of all the review shows he's done, he concluded with "Another chapter to this saga will begin when Richard [Roeper] and I shortly announce a new movie review program." This development seems problematic considering Ebert's health conditions and his lack of ability to speak. Not sure what kind of show this will result in. Maybe someone will read his reviews or maybe Ebert is gonna review movies Stephen Hawking style. Either way I will continue to love Ebert's top notch film analysis.
Watchmen - At a press junket (information via Collder) director Zack Snyder said that the final running time of Watchmen for the DVD release of the film will be 3 hours and 10 minutes (that's not including the apparent 15 minutes of animated footage used in what is called the Black Freighter elements). As I have not yet read Watchmen (simply so I can watch the movie objectively) I'm not entirely sure what the Black Freighter portion of the story consists of, but this DVD is going to be chock full of goodness for Watchmen fans.
Superman Returns Sequel - After some poking around on the Legendary Pictures website, film fan and blogger Alex Litel noticed some slightly eyebrow raising information about an upcoming follow-up to the disappointing franchise reboot Superman Returns. The website lists the title Superman Unleashed as part of its films in development with a vague and brief plot synopsis: "Ramping up the action of its esteemed predecessor, the sequel to Superman Returns promises to raise the stakes and take the audience to heights of action that no other superhero movie can achieve." This information on the site has since been taken down but screenshots of the site can be seen at Alex's blog.
'Arrested Development' Movie is Go for Launch, Seriously
No Michael Cera didn'tpull a Lindsay Lohan. But he did however, make an Arrested Development movie a bit more realistic. According to Kristin Dos Santos over at E! Online, sources close to the negotiations of said TV-to-film venture said that longtime hold out Michael Cera has agreed to reprise his character George-Michael Bluth for the big screen. His holdout hasn't been one of holding himself in high-esteem and not looking back at his career, but rather of caution in his thriving career (especially after warming teenage girls hearts in Juno).
This comes after a great bit of news from executive producer (as well as the show's narrator) Ron Howard that he let out to Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet at the Oscars this past weekend. Howard said, "It's looking very much like we're going to make [the movie], but we've now been asked to stop offering any details. It's cloaked in a little mystery, but it's looking good."
I'm usually not too keen on any television shows making their way to the big screen. Some concepts work better on television than they do on screen, so when I hear about a Lost movie or anything like that I don't feel any excitement. However, this is one show that never got the time or respect it deserved on air, and with such a great cast and amazing writing, this is sure to impress.
Michel Gondry to Fly with Seth Rogen on 'Green Hornet'
There was internet tug of war of sorts when there was a report from Sundance saying The Green Hornet feature might not take the flight into production this year, but then Seth Rogen kindly let us know that everything was going to plan.
Now a big push forward for this project has manifested itself via tons of separate updates. My first finding of the news came from the official Sony Pictures Twitter as well as film industry periodical Production Weekly. Variety even went and tossed up this pitiful blurb (which may be expanded by the time you click) that confirms director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind) will helm The Green Hornet starring Seth Rogen. Gondry was said to be attached to a Green Hornet project back in the 90's with George Clooney and Jason Scott Lee set to star and Robocop writer Edward Neumeier scripting. Now it looks like the project has made its way back into his hands.
This film now has my full attention. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favorite films, and while Be Kind Rewind was sloppy and slow I love how much of a labor of love it was for Gondry (the Sweded films were just magical). His style is charming, full of passion, and simply fresh in a medium becoming incresingly formulaic. I can't wait to see his take on an action film such as this.
Last night at the conclusion of the 81st Academy Awards during the credits everyone was given a vague and not exactly informative look into the films we can look forward to in the coming year. While it's pretty much a guarantee that most of these films will not see awards placement next year, there are some cool never-before-seen clips (though they are all covered by music) for some highly anticipated 2009 films like:
- Sherlock Holmes with Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, and Robert Downey, Jr.
- Public Enemies with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale
- Julie and Julia with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams
- Fame with Kelsey Grammer and Megan Mullally
- Amelia with Hilary Swank and Richard Gere
- Whatever Works with Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood
- Old Dogs with Robin Williams and John Travolta
- The Boat that Rocked with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Emma Thompson
- An Education with Peter Sarsgaard and Alfred Molina
- Imagine That with Eddie Murphy and Thomas Haden Church
- G-Force with Nicolas Cage and Steve Buscemi
Labels: Amelia, An Education, Fame, Funny People, G-Force, Imagine That, Julie and Julia, Old Dogs, Public Enemies, Sherlock Holmes, The Boat That Rocked, Whatever Works
Well the 81st Academy Awards have come and gone as you may have seen from our list of winners from yesterday's ceremony. But with the show taking on a new face and having so many changes throughout, I only thought it appropriate to go through some of my favorite highlights of the night. Overall it wasn't a spectacular ceremony as the Oscars are always a bit dull, but it could've been way worse without a comedian at the helm.
I must say though that while Hugh Jackman put on some spectacular musical performances and really showed his theatrical chops, what really was annoying was his constant reference that "The musical is back!" It's always back at least once a year. Along with that, I have to say that he didn't really do much hosting. Will Smith was practically on the stage longer for the technical awards presentation. These new additions and formatting didn't really revamp the show (it was still slow and mostly boring even for a movie buff) but that doesn't mean there weren't things to enjoy from the ceremony
Before I go on with the list of pros from the show, I have to comment on the actual awards themselves. Basically there were no real surprises. After all, I had 10 correct predictions out of the 11 I made on here (Damn you Best Foreign Film).
But the one award that there's a lot of backlash and seemingly unnecessarily so, is that Mickey Rourke didn't get Best Actor. Let me just say that I had all my eggs in the Mickey Rourke basket for a long time, but changed my tune after I saw Milk. Sean Penn's performance was one for the books. In speaking with some friends, I slowly came to change my mind in that Rourke's performance, while stirring, isn't too much of a departure from his real life. He had a lot of inspiration to pull from in his own life for those emotions on screen. That's not to discredit his performance because putting that much heart-wrenching drama into a character is not easy. But Sean Penn's portrayal of Harvey Milk was just a complete departure from anything he's done before. I was pleased with this outcome, and don't think that the Penn-Hate-Train has any steam,.
Anyway, here's some of the stuff I really dug from the ceremony:
- The opening musical number was really fun. The stage pieces and progression through each film was like watching Michel Gondry tackle the Academy Awards with his patented "Sweded" production quality straight from Be Kind Rewind. It was great to see Jackman comment on The Dark Knight for fanboys, especially as a star of comic book movies himself
- The 2008 Film Yearbook montages were edited together so meticulously. I can't imagine going through the hours of films and coming out with those montages which so brilliant play off one another. Each cut made the films interact with each other and it was just fantastic. There are some low quality captures of these montages for the Action and Romance movies of 2008 here and here (one is mislabeled on YouTube but it's the correct video). Comedy received a special treatment we'll highlight below.
- Very cool presentation method for the acting nominations. Having a previously awarded actor or actress prepare a personalized nomination sort of speech was slightly long winded, but was also a personal touch to the usually borning nomination reels. You can see the nominations presented by 20 other actors for Best Actor/Actress and Best Supporitng Actor/Actress right here
- Tina Fey and Steve Martin presenting the awards for adapted and original screenplays had some of the greatest laughs of the night. Also I always love seeing the clips with the script content superimposed over them like they were subtitles.
- This commercial for Jimmy Kimmel's show featuring Tom Cruise. It's not Oscar related. Big whoop, wanna fight about it?
- Will Smith screwing up reading the teleprompter and making a reference to Boom Goes the Dynamite. Oh to be Internet famous!
What did you guys think of all the changes and new approach to the show?
Labels: 81st Academy Awards, Academy Awards, Awards, Hugh Jackman, James Franco, Judd Apatow, Oscars, Seth Rogen, Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Will Smith
Here we are updating live with the winners of the 81st Academy Awards! Reactions and ceremony review will be up shortly after! Stay Tuned!
Best Supporting Actress - Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Original Screenplay - Dustin Lance Black for Milk
Best Adapted Screenplay - Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire
Best Animated Feature Film - WALL-E
Best Animated Short Film - La Maison en Petits Cubes
Art Direction - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Costume Design - The Duchess
Makeup - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Cinematography - Slumdog Millionaire
Short Film - Spielzeulgland (Toyland)
Best Supporting Actor- Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Documentary Feature Film - Man on Wire
Documentary Short Film - Smile Pinki
Visual Effects - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Sound Editing - The Dark Knight
Sound Mixing - Slumdog Millionaire
Film Editing - Slumdog Millionaire
Original Score - A.R. Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire
Original Song - "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire
Best Foreign Language Film - Departures (Japan)
Best Director - Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actress - Kate Winslet for The Reader
Best Actor - Sean Penn for Milk
Best Picture - Slumdog Millionaire
And that's it for our live coverage of the winners of the 81st Academy Awards. Tomorrow we'll have a review of the revamped ceremony and some reactions to the surprises (or mostly lack thereof) .