Ridley + Crowe

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit giddy about seeing Ridley Scott's Robin Hood (Universal, 05.14.10), but this latest trailer is most discouraging. I'm absolutely positive that it will contain first-rate action scenes, flaunt with its sun-through-the-trees lensing and muted colors, but who doesn't watch this and think it looks like a Gladiator re-skin?

Plus I'm not sure that molding the Robin Hood legend, a tale of merry men and romance and fun, should be reduced to a medieval-era bone-crusher and gritty tale of destiny and vengeance. The father-son stuff looks terrible and so does Cate Blanchett, who looks bad enough posing as a damsel-in-distress before donning Joan of Arc gear towards the end. I'm worried.

Frank Capra #9: 'The Bitter Tea of General Yen' (1933)

Throughout the first handful of years in which Capra emerged as the top director for then-minor league studio Columbia Pictures under Harry Cohn, the director churned out middling, creaky melodramas, newsroom comedies and aviation epics - all of them financially successful.

Nevertheless, Capra admittedly wanted to break into the mold of prestigious, awards-caliber filmmakers, and thus The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933) became that project that would bring Capra prestige, awards and an audience.

Although The Bitter Tea of General Yen is, from this seat, Capra's most sophisticated, artful and complete work to date, it was also his least successful and most controversial. The story of an American missionary (Barbara Stanwyck) who is initially held captive by a General (Nils Asther) in war-torn China before submitting to his will and his wisdom, the film was highly contested and dismissed due to its deviant depiction of an interracial romance.

Essentially a Beauty and the Beast-like tale, and based on a story by Grace Zering Stone, The Bitter Tea of General Yen works because of the clashing ideals and cultures between Stanwyck's hypocritical missionary and General Yen's stiff, rough demeanor masking an affectionate, selfless persona. Even if it doesn't reach the tragic heights and emotional crescendos of a great work, it's such a step above Capra's early studio-age material that it can't help but be commended.

The Bitter Tea of General Yen was the film that opened the Radio City Music Hall on January 11, 1933 for a two-week run. It only played for eight days. Capra's quest for critical notoriety and artful prominence postponed.

Tron: Legacy

My unabashed, geeky love for the original 1982 Tron gets my blood-pumping a little bit when I watch this trailer (once in 3D before Alice in Wonderland and a second-time just a moment ago). The allure of the original for a lot of people I assume lies in the cybernetic, virtual-reality Matrix-like world, which looks great even by today's standards.



I was worried that a reboot would add unnecessary gloss and precision to the technology, but a) I think it looks faithful without being excessive and unfamiliar and b) the fact that this sequel takes place almost thirty years after the original gives the creators and the animation team freedom to expand upon the program that Jeff Bridges now inhabits for good, apparently.

Tron: Legacy will open on 12.17.10 opposite Warner Bros.' Yogi Bear, in what will likely be the first weekend ever to debut two 3D films simultaneously.

Two-Trick Pony

I knew that well-known art-house actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (I'm Not There, Antichrist) was off into the music scene somewhat, but watching this clip of her performing "Trick Pony," on David Letterman about 5-6 weeks ago is a little bizarre, I have to admit.

It's a little odd watching a well-known screen performer on stage, and it's also odd that Letterman had to ask, "are you Charlotte?" upon taking the stage - really, Dave?

Review: 'Fish Tank' [B]

Great lengths were taken during the production of Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank - a scummy, staunch British coming-of-age drama - to ensure absolute authenticity.

Scenes were shot chronologically, the actors unaware of their character's fate as the story progresses, and the film's lead, a 15 year-old wannabe dancer with a short fuse (played on screen by newcomer Katie Jarvis), was discovered by casting director Jill Trevellick on the streets of England in the midst of an apparently convincing argument with her boyfriend.

And it's this remarkably convincing and unabashed dedication to realism that - combined with the talents of its principal actors - gives Fish Tank its narrative spunk and uncomfortable veracity, which at times becomes too nihilistic even for me.

But the way in which Arnold keeps tricks to a minimum and takes the time to accentuate the pleasures of an afternoon car ride or the smell of her mom's boyfriend's cologne, she's able to get inside the disaffection and desires of her confounding and temperamental teen subject.

Living in a pinkish, boxy apartment with her sleazy, self-serving mother and a matured younger sister, Mia (Jarvis) escapes the harsh realities of lower-class England by dancing away to old-school American hip-hop and playfully prodding away at mom's frank and unpredictable boy toy (Michael Fassbender).

Proving his worth in art-houses and multiplexes alike (Hunger, Inglourious Basterds), Fassbender, who becomes quietly enamored with young Mia himself, turns in a textured and rich supporting role, concurrently becoming a father figure of sorts while still exuding a sense of inappropriateness and attachment beyond paternal mentoring.

And young Katie Jarvis - who even walks as if she's fed up with it - gives a dynamite, true-to-life performance as the always-present subject in this bleak, unforgiving and ostensibly futile drama that wavers significantly at points during the latter half before eventually re-righting the ship. Even when Mia crosses the line and becomes contemptuously vindictive, Arnold and Jarvis are quick to draw us back in and remind us of youthful arrogance and the elusiveness of life's even playing field.

Of course, the title Fish Tank refers to the enclosed world of Mia Williams, reduced to an onlooker and helpless dreamer of life out in the ocean. This is a film that sees our characters initially finding solace in listening to "California Dreamin" before finally and more appropriately settling on "Life's a Bitch." While it may seem like a tragic concession, it plays out more like a timely realization - our characters now unchained from their deluded optimism.

The Best Films of 2009

Well after sitting through 95 films in 2009, I've narrowed it down to the 20 best. Enjoy.

Honorable Mention:

#20. "HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE" (David Yates)
#19. "ADVENTURELAND" (Greg Motolla)
#18. "THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX" (Uli Edel)
#17. "REVANCHE" (Gotz Spielman)
#16. "THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX" (Wes Anderson)
#15. "ZOMBIELAND" (Ruben Fleischer)
#14. "TWO LOVERS" (James Gray)
#13. "SUGAR" (Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden)
#12. "IN THE LOOP" (Armando Iannucci)
#11. "AN EDUCATION" (Lone Scherfig)

#10

"SIN NOMBRE"
Directed by Cary Fukunaga

This immigration tale delicately weaves the stories of two lost souls hopping on-and-off the rusty, overcrowded northbound trains of Mexico's polluted and seemingly inescapable landscape. Debut director Cary Fukunaga and cinematographer Adriano Goldman find a way to capture the ravished beauty of the promise of freedom across the border while examining the trials and inner-workings of Mexico's gang-culture.

#9

"A SINGLE MAN"
Directed by Tom Ford

Tom Ford's morosely exquisite debut film about grief and solitude charts a day in the life of a gay English professor (Colin Firth) as he attempts to cope with the loss of his life partner (Matthew Goode). Set in 1962, A Single Man examines the mechanics of the grieving process through social alienation and seclusion against the backdrop of the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Though detachment and social imprisonment reign supreme, A Single Man is finally about those life instances of unexpected clarity and reprieve.

#8

"EVERLASTING MOMENTS"
Directed by Jan Troell

Perhaps the most aptly titled (or translated) film on this list is Jan Troell's Swedish family drama Everlasting Moments. Just as you would expect, it's a slice-of-life story following the ups-and-downs of a working-class family living in the early part of the 20th century. When their mother (Maria Heiskanen) stumbles upon a camera, it changes her perception of herself and the world around her. It's a sad film, honest and uncompromising, yet resolutely celebratory of life's defining (or everlasting) moments.

#7

"UP IN THE AIR"
Directed by Jason Reitman

This topical, humanistic tale of a social outcast wandering the airways and high-rises of the recession-era Midwest is, despite the recent flare-up of negativity and cynicism, a wonderful achievement. The journey of Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a man who lets people go (both in his personal and professional life) before facing and questioning his own isoloation. By the end, the film's title broadens its scope and becomes descriptive of a world caught in a haze of unpredictability and insecurity - unemployed or not.

#6

"ANTICHRIST"
Directed by Lars von Trier

Over the past few months since first seeing - or enduring - Lars von Trier's Antichrist, I can't shake the feeling that this is some kind of a major work. A gothic horror tale, a self-reflective psychoanalysis and a satanic, biblical deconstruction, Antichrist surely isn't for everyone with its startling violence and hideous self-mutilations. Nevertheless, its effect is hypnotic, permanent and indelible - I can't get it out of my head.

#5

"THE HURT LOCKER"
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

There's really nothing left to be said about Kathryn Bigelow's hair-trigger adrenaline-rush of a war film. Refreshingly devoid of harmful political digressions, The Hurt Locker is simply about the intense vulnerability of combat and its effects on the soldiers who endure it - or perhaps live off of it. Jeremy Renner's Sgt. James, a thrill-seeking bomb diffuser extraordinaire, seems to be an iconic character in the making and a hell of an alter ego - the Antoine Doinel to Bigelow's Francois Truffaut.

#4

"WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE"
Directed by Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze's supposed entry into the children's film market looks and sounds like the classic Maurice Sendak book, but it feels completely and wholly its own. Writing the script alongside novelist Dave Eggers, Jonze turns his Wild Things into a deep psychological portal into the mind and soul of its protagonist, the animalistic and confused Max. By taking us on this journey to an imaginary island, Jonze and Eggers are showing us the world through Max's point-of-view in a way that's more relatable to him. The result is a deeply felt and emotional portrait of childhood - or perhaps the end of it.

#3

"THE WHITE RIBBON"
Directed by Michael Haneke

Michael Haneke applies his studious and static steadicam approach to a work comparable to that of an early Ingrid Bergman or Robert Bresson. Set within a rural German village on the outset of World War I and shot in stunning black-and-white, The White Ribbon isn't just plainly a precursor to Nazism, but a universal examination on the effects of a society founded on authority, obedience and stringency. It's a dreary, hopeless film, but what got me was its eternal sadness and compassion towards its subjects opposed to outright scrutiny.

#2

"PUBLIC ENEMIES"
Directed by Michael Mann

This digitally-enhanced gangster saga is an artful and narrowly-scoped Depression-era rumination on mortality and celebrity - restrained, transportative and Alain Delon cool. Writer/director Michael Mann refreshingly blurs the line between cops and robbers, turning in a layered and subtly effective work. Elliot Goldenthal's score doesn't just sound like the end of an outlaw, but the end of an era. The film, it its own minimal way, feels like nothing less than the last dance of the classic American gangster.

#1

"A SERIOUS MAN"
Directed Joel and Ethan Coen

The Coens' wicked black comedy out-misanthropes almost everything that the duo has churned out before in this darkly humorous yet fatalistic film about life's seemingly impossible odds. With satirical irony and personal scope (not to mention a clear disdain for organized, content religious culture), A Serious Man, through the unfortunate events bestowed upon the harmless Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), is an illustrative fable exploring existential questions of faith, destiny and truth. It's the answers - or lack thereof - that makes the film quintessential Coen Brothers.

So to recap:
1. "A Serious Man" (Coens)
2. "Public Enemies" (Mann)
3. "The White Ribbon" (Haneke)
4. "Where the Wild Things Are" (Jonze)
5. "The Hurt Locker" (Bigelow)
6. "Antichrist" (von Trier)
7. "Up in the Air" (Reitman)
8. "Everlasting Moments" (Troell)
9. "A Single Man" (Ford)
10. "Sin Nombre" (Fukunaga)

Quote

"A Serious Man is so Jewish, it makes Yentl look like A Christmas Carol."
-Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice/Dallas Observer Film/Music Critic.

By the way, Top 10 Films of 2009 tomorrow.