Celebrate “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2” at the Ultimate Fan Celebration
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Be a part of history and celebrate the final adventure of the most successful film franchise of all time at the Ultimate Fan Celebration for Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2.” The event is being held on Thursday, July 14th at Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, from 9:00 p.m. to the midnight hour, when the film officially opens.
L.A.’s hit music station Power 106 will be hosting the event. Fans gathered for the midnight showing will have the opportunity to be entered to win prizes, including soundtracks, t-shirts, hats and much more!
In “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2,” the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort. It all ends here.
The film stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, reprising their roles as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The ensemble cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Ciarán Hinds, John Hurt, Jason Isaacs, Matthew Lewis, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, David Thewlis, Julie Walters and Bonnie Wright.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” was directed by David Yates, and produced by David Heyman, David Barron and J.K. Rowling. Screenwriter Steve Kloves adapted the screenplay, based on the book by J.K. Rowling. Lionel Wigram served as the executive producer.
Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Heyday Films Production, a David Yates Film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2,” which is the first Harry Potter film to be released in both 3D and 2D. The film opens nationwide on Friday, July 15, 2011, and is rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence and frightening images.
http://www.harrypotter.com/
Showing posts with label Helena Bonham Carter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Helena Bonham Carter. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Tim Burton Begins Filming "Dark Shadows" with Johnny Depp
Filming Begins on Tim Burton’s “Dark Shadows”
Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter head an all-star cast.
BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Filming begins this week on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ “Dark Shadows,” which brings the cult classic television series to the big screen under the direction of Tim Burton. The film’s all-star ensemble cast includes Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Bella Heathcote, Chloe Moretz, and newcomer Gulliver McGrath.
In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Brouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.
Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.
Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.
Burton is directing and producing “Dark Shadows” from a screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith, story by John August and Grahame-Smith, based on the television series created by Dan Curtis. Also producing are Oscar® winner Richard D. Zanuck (“Alice in Wonderland,” “Driving Miss Daisy”), continuing his long association with Burton; Oscar® winner Graham King (“Rango,” “The Departed”), continuing his collaboration with Depp; Johnny Depp, Christi Dembrowski, and David Kennedy. The executive producers are Chris Lebenzon, Nigel Gostelow, Tim Headington, and Bruce Berman.
The behind-the-scenes creative team includes cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, Oscar®-winning production designer Rick Heinrichs (“Sleepy Hollow”), Oscar®-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (“Alice in Wonderland”) and editor Chris Lebenzon (“Alice in Wonderland”). The score will be composed by Danny Elfman.
“Dark Shadows” is being filmed entirely in England, both at Pinewood Studios and on location.
“Dark Shadows” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.
Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter head an all-star cast.
BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Filming begins this week on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ “Dark Shadows,” which brings the cult classic television series to the big screen under the direction of Tim Burton. The film’s all-star ensemble cast includes Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Bella Heathcote, Chloe Moretz, and newcomer Gulliver McGrath.
In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Brouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.
Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.
Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.
Burton is directing and producing “Dark Shadows” from a screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith, story by John August and Grahame-Smith, based on the television series created by Dan Curtis. Also producing are Oscar® winner Richard D. Zanuck (“Alice in Wonderland,” “Driving Miss Daisy”), continuing his long association with Burton; Oscar® winner Graham King (“Rango,” “The Departed”), continuing his collaboration with Depp; Johnny Depp, Christi Dembrowski, and David Kennedy. The executive producers are Chris Lebenzon, Nigel Gostelow, Tim Headington, and Bruce Berman.
The behind-the-scenes creative team includes cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, Oscar®-winning production designer Rick Heinrichs (“Sleepy Hollow”), Oscar®-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (“Alice in Wonderland”) and editor Chris Lebenzon (“Alice in Wonderland”). The score will be composed by Danny Elfman.
“Dark Shadows” is being filmed entirely in England, both at Pinewood Studios and on location.
“Dark Shadows” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Review: Great Performances Help Deliver "The King's Speech"
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux
The King’s Speech (2010)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United Kingdom
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – R for some language
DIRECTOR: Tom Hooper
WRITER: David Seidler
PRODUCERS: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Danny Cohen (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Tariq Anwar
COMPOSER: Alexandre Desplat
Academy Award winner
DRAMA/HISTORICAL
Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce, Jennifer Ehle, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Timothy Spall, Eve Best, Freya Wilson, Ramona Marquez, Dominic Applewhite, Calum Gittins, Ben Wimsett, and Claire Bloom
The King’s Speech isn’t just any British historical drama. After all, it won the Academy Award as “Best Picture” of 2010. I don’t think it is as good as some of the British costume or period dramas from Merchant Ivory Productions (like Howard’s End and Remains of the Day) or even Shakespeare in Love (another best picture Oscar winner). However, this film about a king with a stammer and the man who helps him overcome it is a really good movie that I heartily recommend to fans of historical dramas.
The film begins in 1925. Prince Albert, Duke of York (Colin Firth) addresses a crowd, and his stammering speech clearly unsettles thousands of listeners. Known as “Bertie” to his wife, Elizabeth, Duchess of York (Helena Bonham Carter), and to his family, Prince Albert tries several unsuccessful treatments for his stammer and eventually gives finding a cure. The Duchess convinces Prince Albert to see Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an unorthodox Australian speech therapist living in London.
Logue’s pioneering treatment helps Albert, and the two men form an unlikely friendship. After Albert’s older brother, David, the Prince of Wales (Guy Pearce), steps down as King, Albert becomes King George VI and relies on Lionel even more. As war with Germany looms, George VI will need Logue’s help to deliver the King’s speech to Great Britain and the British Empire, a radio address that will assure the people’s confidence in their still-new king.
Tom Hooper, the director of The King’s Speech, was primarily known for his work directing for television (including the Emmy-winning, HBO miniseries, John Adams). However, the visual style he uses for The King’s Speech gives the film the grand feel of a historical epic, while simultaneously capturing the intimacy necessary for a character drama. Hooper is aided and abetted by art direction that brings the royal existence of the 1920s and 1930s to vivid life.
As well directed as The King’s Speech is, the core of the movie rests on the performances of Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. This movie is essentially the tale of a troubled prince/king who is shown the way to victory by a curmudgeonly wizard, and, in that sense, Firth as the distressed royal and Rush as the stern but doting old mage are triumphant. I have been watching Firth for years, so I know that he is an excellent actor. Still, I almost totally believed that he was the sorely troubled King George VI, fighting a real stammer. What can I say about Rush other than that he is always good, but, as Logue, this is one of those performances that will be marked in his career as a peak in a great body of work.
Helena Bonham Carter is also quite good, making the most of her time on screen and even stealing a few scenes. Firth won an Oscar for his performance here, and Rush and Carter should have also won Oscars, although they did receive nominations. There is much to like about The King’s Speech, but this trio makes the film a classic among British historical dramas.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2011 Academy Awards: 4 wins: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Tom Hooper), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Colin Firth), and “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (David Seidler); 8 nominations: “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (Eve Stewart and Judy Farr), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Danny Cohen), “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Jenny Beavan), “Best Achievement in Editing” (Tariq Anwar), “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Alexandre Desplat), “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen, and John Midgley), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Geoffrey Rush), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Helena Bonham Carter)
2011 BAFTA Awards: 7 wins: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, and Gareth Unwin), “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Alexandre Desplat), “Best Actor” (Colin Firth), “Best Film” (Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin, and Iain Canning), “Best Screenplay-Original” (David Seidler), “Best Supporting Actor” (Geoffrey Rush), and “Best Supporting Actress” (Helena Bonham Carter); 7 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Danny Cohen), “Best Costume Design” (Jenny Beavan), “Best Editing” (Tariq Anwar), “Best Make Up/Hair,” “Best Production Design” (Eve Stewart and Judy Farr), “Best Sound” (John Midgley-production mixer, Paul Hamblin-re-recording mixer, Martin Jensen-re-recording mixer, and Lee Walpole-supervising sound editor), and “David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction” (Tom Hooper)
2011 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Colin Firth); 6 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Tom Hooper), “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Alexandre Desplat), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Geoffrey Rush), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Helena Bonham Carter), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (David Seidler)
Thursday, April 28, 2011
The King’s Speech (2010)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United Kingdom
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – R for some language
DIRECTOR: Tom Hooper
WRITER: David Seidler
PRODUCERS: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Danny Cohen (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Tariq Anwar
COMPOSER: Alexandre Desplat
Academy Award winner
DRAMA/HISTORICAL
Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce, Jennifer Ehle, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Timothy Spall, Eve Best, Freya Wilson, Ramona Marquez, Dominic Applewhite, Calum Gittins, Ben Wimsett, and Claire Bloom
The King’s Speech isn’t just any British historical drama. After all, it won the Academy Award as “Best Picture” of 2010. I don’t think it is as good as some of the British costume or period dramas from Merchant Ivory Productions (like Howard’s End and Remains of the Day) or even Shakespeare in Love (another best picture Oscar winner). However, this film about a king with a stammer and the man who helps him overcome it is a really good movie that I heartily recommend to fans of historical dramas.
The film begins in 1925. Prince Albert, Duke of York (Colin Firth) addresses a crowd, and his stammering speech clearly unsettles thousands of listeners. Known as “Bertie” to his wife, Elizabeth, Duchess of York (Helena Bonham Carter), and to his family, Prince Albert tries several unsuccessful treatments for his stammer and eventually gives finding a cure. The Duchess convinces Prince Albert to see Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an unorthodox Australian speech therapist living in London.
Logue’s pioneering treatment helps Albert, and the two men form an unlikely friendship. After Albert’s older brother, David, the Prince of Wales (Guy Pearce), steps down as King, Albert becomes King George VI and relies on Lionel even more. As war with Germany looms, George VI will need Logue’s help to deliver the King’s speech to Great Britain and the British Empire, a radio address that will assure the people’s confidence in their still-new king.
Tom Hooper, the director of The King’s Speech, was primarily known for his work directing for television (including the Emmy-winning, HBO miniseries, John Adams). However, the visual style he uses for The King’s Speech gives the film the grand feel of a historical epic, while simultaneously capturing the intimacy necessary for a character drama. Hooper is aided and abetted by art direction that brings the royal existence of the 1920s and 1930s to vivid life.
As well directed as The King’s Speech is, the core of the movie rests on the performances of Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. This movie is essentially the tale of a troubled prince/king who is shown the way to victory by a curmudgeonly wizard, and, in that sense, Firth as the distressed royal and Rush as the stern but doting old mage are triumphant. I have been watching Firth for years, so I know that he is an excellent actor. Still, I almost totally believed that he was the sorely troubled King George VI, fighting a real stammer. What can I say about Rush other than that he is always good, but, as Logue, this is one of those performances that will be marked in his career as a peak in a great body of work.
Helena Bonham Carter is also quite good, making the most of her time on screen and even stealing a few scenes. Firth won an Oscar for his performance here, and Rush and Carter should have also won Oscars, although they did receive nominations. There is much to like about The King’s Speech, but this trio makes the film a classic among British historical dramas.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2011 Academy Awards: 4 wins: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Tom Hooper), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Colin Firth), and “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (David Seidler); 8 nominations: “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (Eve Stewart and Judy Farr), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Danny Cohen), “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Jenny Beavan), “Best Achievement in Editing” (Tariq Anwar), “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Alexandre Desplat), “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen, and John Midgley), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Geoffrey Rush), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Helena Bonham Carter)
2011 BAFTA Awards: 7 wins: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, and Gareth Unwin), “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Alexandre Desplat), “Best Actor” (Colin Firth), “Best Film” (Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin, and Iain Canning), “Best Screenplay-Original” (David Seidler), “Best Supporting Actor” (Geoffrey Rush), and “Best Supporting Actress” (Helena Bonham Carter); 7 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Danny Cohen), “Best Costume Design” (Jenny Beavan), “Best Editing” (Tariq Anwar), “Best Make Up/Hair,” “Best Production Design” (Eve Stewart and Judy Farr), “Best Sound” (John Midgley-production mixer, Paul Hamblin-re-recording mixer, Martin Jensen-re-recording mixer, and Lee Walpole-supervising sound editor), and “David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction” (Tom Hooper)
2011 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Colin Firth); 6 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Tom Hooper), “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Alexandre Desplat), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Geoffrey Rush), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Helena Bonham Carter), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (David Seidler)
Thursday, April 28, 2011
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Friday, March 11, 2011
First "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" Sets Record for Series
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 Conjures International Box Office Magic, Becoming Top Earner of Entire Film Series
BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Pictures’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 has become the highest grossing installment in the Harry Potter franchise in international markets. With just months to go before the release of the finale of the record-breaking film series based on the beloved books by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 has earned a staggering $657.24 million and counting, soaring past the previous record-holder, 2001’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which grossed $657 million. The announcement was made today by Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.
“It’s tremendously gratifying to reach this benchmark as we enter the final stretch of this remarkable journey,” said Jeff Robinov, President of Warner Bros. Pictures Group. “We share this achievement with Jo Rowling, whose books are the foundation of this rich and vibrant world, as well as the talented people who brought her vision to life on the screen.”
“We are also incredibly proud of our teams around the world who have brought a consistent level of excellence, passion and ingenuity to the campaigns for these films,” said Sue Kroll, President, Worldwide Marketing for Warner Bros. Pictures. “And, of course, we’re thrilled that longtime fans and new audiences alike have continued to champion each film, resulting in the huge success of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.”
Kwan-Rubinek added, “These numbers speak to the phenomenal and enduring strength of this property, which has captivated audiences across all borders, regardless of age or culture. We’re looking forward to releasing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 this summer, which will be a fitting way to bring to a close the movie event of a generation.”
With the success of its first six of seven titles, the Harry Potter series had already achieved the distinction of being the top-grossing film franchise of all time, with a combined worldwide gross of $6.37 billion. This benchmark for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1—which has earned $951.8 million worldwide—as well as the anticipation for Part 2, opening globally on July 15, 2011, should ensure its place in film history for years to come.
Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Heyday Films Production, a David Yates Film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, a motion picture event in two full-length parts. The film is being distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
Heading the cast, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson reprise the roles of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The film’s ensemble cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Griffiths, John Hurt, Rhys Ifans, Jason Isaacs, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Toby Jones, David Legeno, Simon McBurney, Helen McCrory, Nick Moran, Peter Mullan, David O’Hara, Clémence Poésy, Natalia Tena, Julie Walters, Mark Williams and Bonnie Wright.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was directed by David Yates, who also helmed “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” David Heyman, the producer of all of the Harry Potter films, again produced the film, together with David Barron and J.K. Rowling. Steve Kloves adapted the screenplay, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. Lionel Wigram is the executive producer, with John Trehy and Tim Lewis serving as co-producers.
Behind the scenes, the creative team was led by director of photography Eduardo Serra, production designer Stuart Craig, editor Mark Day, composer Alexandre Desplat, visual effects supervisor Tim Burke, and costume designer Jany Temime.
Concurrently with its theatrical release, the film was released in select IMAX® theatres. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® through proprietary IMAX DMR® technology.
http://www.harrypotter.com/
BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Pictures’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 has become the highest grossing installment in the Harry Potter franchise in international markets. With just months to go before the release of the finale of the record-breaking film series based on the beloved books by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 has earned a staggering $657.24 million and counting, soaring past the previous record-holder, 2001’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which grossed $657 million. The announcement was made today by Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.
“It’s tremendously gratifying to reach this benchmark as we enter the final stretch of this remarkable journey,” said Jeff Robinov, President of Warner Bros. Pictures Group. “We share this achievement with Jo Rowling, whose books are the foundation of this rich and vibrant world, as well as the talented people who brought her vision to life on the screen.”
“We are also incredibly proud of our teams around the world who have brought a consistent level of excellence, passion and ingenuity to the campaigns for these films,” said Sue Kroll, President, Worldwide Marketing for Warner Bros. Pictures. “And, of course, we’re thrilled that longtime fans and new audiences alike have continued to champion each film, resulting in the huge success of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.”
Kwan-Rubinek added, “These numbers speak to the phenomenal and enduring strength of this property, which has captivated audiences across all borders, regardless of age or culture. We’re looking forward to releasing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 this summer, which will be a fitting way to bring to a close the movie event of a generation.”
With the success of its first six of seven titles, the Harry Potter series had already achieved the distinction of being the top-grossing film franchise of all time, with a combined worldwide gross of $6.37 billion. This benchmark for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1—which has earned $951.8 million worldwide—as well as the anticipation for Part 2, opening globally on July 15, 2011, should ensure its place in film history for years to come.
Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Heyday Films Production, a David Yates Film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, a motion picture event in two full-length parts. The film is being distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
Heading the cast, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson reprise the roles of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The film’s ensemble cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Griffiths, John Hurt, Rhys Ifans, Jason Isaacs, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Toby Jones, David Legeno, Simon McBurney, Helen McCrory, Nick Moran, Peter Mullan, David O’Hara, Clémence Poésy, Natalia Tena, Julie Walters, Mark Williams and Bonnie Wright.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was directed by David Yates, who also helmed “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” David Heyman, the producer of all of the Harry Potter films, again produced the film, together with David Barron and J.K. Rowling. Steve Kloves adapted the screenplay, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. Lionel Wigram is the executive producer, with John Trehy and Tim Lewis serving as co-producers.
Behind the scenes, the creative team was led by director of photography Eduardo Serra, production designer Stuart Craig, editor Mark Day, composer Alexandre Desplat, visual effects supervisor Tim Burke, and costume designer Jany Temime.
Concurrently with its theatrical release, the film was released in select IMAX® theatres. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® through proprietary IMAX DMR® technology.
http://www.harrypotter.com/
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Melissa Leo Wins Best Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar for "The Fighter"
Actress in a Supporting Role
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” WINNER
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” WINNER
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Review: "Sweeney Todd" is Bloody Good" (Happy B'day, Dante Ferretti)
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 21 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic bloody violence
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITER: John Logan (based on the musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler; originally stage by Harold Prince)
PRODUCERS: Richard D. Zanuck, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, and John Logan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dariusz Wolski, ASC
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon, A.C.E.
2008 Academy Award winner
MUSICAL/DRAMA/HORROR
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Jayne Wisener, and Edward Sanders
Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) brings the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim to life in his wonderfully gruesome film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, based on the Tony Award-winning musical by Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. Burton keeps most of the songs from the musical and joins his frequent leading man, Johnny Depp, for the sixth time to make fantastically macabre movie magic, one that demands that the audience accept the gory reality of murder if it’s going to be entertained by bloody revenge.
Escaping two decades of false imprisonment in Australia, Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) returns to London and vows to kill the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) and his nefarious henchman, Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall), who framed him on trumped-up criminal charge in order to steal his wife. However, Barker has learned that his wife, Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly), poisoned herself, and his now grown daughter, Johanna (Jayne Wisener), is Turpin’s ward.
Adopting the guise of Sweeney Todd, Barker resumes his trade as a barber. He sets up his business in his old Barber Shop above the pie-making premises of Mrs. Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who falls for the mad barber. After killing a rival who threatens to expose Sweeney’s real identity, Todd devises with Mrs. Lovett an inhuman scheme that will both get rid of the body and save Mrs. Lovett’s ailing meat pie business. Todd begins to murder his customers, cutting their throats, and Mrs. Lovett uses their flesh as the filling for her pies.
Meanwhile, Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), the young sailor who rescued Sweeney from the sea, has fallen madly in love with Johanna and becomes the target of Turpin’s ire, for Turpin wants to marry his young ward. Mrs. Lovett’s pies soon become the talk of London, and as business booms, she dreams of respectability and a life at the seaside with Sweeney as her husband and her young charge, Toby (Edward Sanders), alongside as her adopted son. Sweeney Todd has only one thing on his mind – cutting Judge Turpin and Beadle Bamford’s throats so severely that their arterial sprays will paint his walls.
While it may be true that Johnny Depp doesn’t have a quality singing voice, he is a great actor, and his frequent collaborator Tim Burton is a great director. In Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the two of them make a splendid film musical, as good, and in some ways better, than recent screen musicals Chicago, Dreamgirls, and Moulin Rouge.
Depp, all brooding, smoldering, and quite mad, as Sweeney Todd is mesmerizing on screen. His Todd is a rich character capable of so many moods and so very capable of feigning civility and humanity when there is never a moment in this movie when Todd isn’t at heart, a freaking homicidal maniac. It’s no wonder that Depp earned his third Oscar nomination as a lead actor. His colleagues in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can see how wonderfully fertile this character is, simply because this amazing actor can create a profound character, almost out of thin air.
Burton, often criticized for focusing on whimsical, macabre, and almost pop gothic films instead of “serious” subject matter, seems to distill everything he has done thus far in cinema into this one gruesome, luminous jewel. Burton’s creative and technical collaborators have fashioned some of the most imaginative and decorative costumes and sets. His cinematographers, editors, and lighting crews have made inventive uses of the tools and equipment of their trades and crafts. Burton is not only able to get the best of his technical staff, he is also able to get them to go out of the ordinary when it comes to creating visual splendor. Sweeney Todd is the movie where everything he has done has come together to produce the epitome of his visual style. It’s like an astonishing colorful ode to Italian filmmaker, Mario Bava, an influence on Burton.
That’s not to say that this is the Burton/Depp show alone. Stephen Sondheim’s music is not only divine, but is also excellent at storytelling, character defining, and mood making. Helena Bonham Carter, a thoroughly underrated and underutilized actress, is a surprisingly spry singer with a beautiful voice. She’s a scene stealer here, and one can argue that the film is as much her Mrs. Lovett’s as it is Depp’s murderous Todd. To put it simply, the people who made this movie made a great movie, a deliciously demented great movie.
9 of 10
A+
NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 1 winner for “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (Dante Ferretti-art director and Francesca Lo Schiavo-set decorator) and 2 nominations: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Johnny Depp) and “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood)
2008 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood) and “Best Make Up and Hair” (Ivana Primorac)
2008 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Johnny Depp); 2 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Tim Burton) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Helena Bonham Carter)
Friday, April 25, 2008
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic bloody violence
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITER: John Logan (based on the musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler; originally stage by Harold Prince)
PRODUCERS: Richard D. Zanuck, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, and John Logan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dariusz Wolski, ASC
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon, A.C.E.
2008 Academy Award winner
MUSICAL/DRAMA/HORROR
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Jayne Wisener, and Edward Sanders
Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) brings the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim to life in his wonderfully gruesome film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, based on the Tony Award-winning musical by Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. Burton keeps most of the songs from the musical and joins his frequent leading man, Johnny Depp, for the sixth time to make fantastically macabre movie magic, one that demands that the audience accept the gory reality of murder if it’s going to be entertained by bloody revenge.
Escaping two decades of false imprisonment in Australia, Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) returns to London and vows to kill the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) and his nefarious henchman, Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall), who framed him on trumped-up criminal charge in order to steal his wife. However, Barker has learned that his wife, Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly), poisoned herself, and his now grown daughter, Johanna (Jayne Wisener), is Turpin’s ward.
Adopting the guise of Sweeney Todd, Barker resumes his trade as a barber. He sets up his business in his old Barber Shop above the pie-making premises of Mrs. Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who falls for the mad barber. After killing a rival who threatens to expose Sweeney’s real identity, Todd devises with Mrs. Lovett an inhuman scheme that will both get rid of the body and save Mrs. Lovett’s ailing meat pie business. Todd begins to murder his customers, cutting their throats, and Mrs. Lovett uses their flesh as the filling for her pies.
Meanwhile, Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), the young sailor who rescued Sweeney from the sea, has fallen madly in love with Johanna and becomes the target of Turpin’s ire, for Turpin wants to marry his young ward. Mrs. Lovett’s pies soon become the talk of London, and as business booms, she dreams of respectability and a life at the seaside with Sweeney as her husband and her young charge, Toby (Edward Sanders), alongside as her adopted son. Sweeney Todd has only one thing on his mind – cutting Judge Turpin and Beadle Bamford’s throats so severely that their arterial sprays will paint his walls.
While it may be true that Johnny Depp doesn’t have a quality singing voice, he is a great actor, and his frequent collaborator Tim Burton is a great director. In Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the two of them make a splendid film musical, as good, and in some ways better, than recent screen musicals Chicago, Dreamgirls, and Moulin Rouge.
Depp, all brooding, smoldering, and quite mad, as Sweeney Todd is mesmerizing on screen. His Todd is a rich character capable of so many moods and so very capable of feigning civility and humanity when there is never a moment in this movie when Todd isn’t at heart, a freaking homicidal maniac. It’s no wonder that Depp earned his third Oscar nomination as a lead actor. His colleagues in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can see how wonderfully fertile this character is, simply because this amazing actor can create a profound character, almost out of thin air.
Burton, often criticized for focusing on whimsical, macabre, and almost pop gothic films instead of “serious” subject matter, seems to distill everything he has done thus far in cinema into this one gruesome, luminous jewel. Burton’s creative and technical collaborators have fashioned some of the most imaginative and decorative costumes and sets. His cinematographers, editors, and lighting crews have made inventive uses of the tools and equipment of their trades and crafts. Burton is not only able to get the best of his technical staff, he is also able to get them to go out of the ordinary when it comes to creating visual splendor. Sweeney Todd is the movie where everything he has done has come together to produce the epitome of his visual style. It’s like an astonishing colorful ode to Italian filmmaker, Mario Bava, an influence on Burton.
That’s not to say that this is the Burton/Depp show alone. Stephen Sondheim’s music is not only divine, but is also excellent at storytelling, character defining, and mood making. Helena Bonham Carter, a thoroughly underrated and underutilized actress, is a surprisingly spry singer with a beautiful voice. She’s a scene stealer here, and one can argue that the film is as much her Mrs. Lovett’s as it is Depp’s murderous Todd. To put it simply, the people who made this movie made a great movie, a deliciously demented great movie.
9 of 10
A+
NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 1 winner for “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (Dante Ferretti-art director and Francesca Lo Schiavo-set decorator) and 2 nominations: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Johnny Depp) and “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood)
2008 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood) and “Best Make Up and Hair” (Ivana Primorac)
2008 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Johnny Depp); 2 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Tim Burton) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Helena Bonham Carter)
Friday, April 25, 2008
-------------------
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Helena Bonham Carter Wins "Best Supporting Actress" BAFTA
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
HELENA BONHAM CARTER The King’s Speech WINNER
AMY ADAMS The Fighter
BARBARA HERSHEY Black Swan
LESLEY MANVILLE Another Year
MIRANDA RICHARDSON Made in Dagenham
HELENA BONHAM CARTER The King’s Speech WINNER
AMY ADAMS The Fighter
BARBARA HERSHEY Black Swan
LESLEY MANVILLE Another Year
MIRANDA RICHARDSON Made in Dagenham
Monday, January 31, 2011
17th Screen Actors Guild Award Winners Movie Categories - Complete List
Screen Actors Guild presented its Actor® statuette for the outstanding motion picture and primetime television performances of 2010 at the “17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards” in ceremonies held Sunday, Jan. 30, at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center.
Morgan Freeman also presented Ernest Borgnine with Screen Actors Guild’s highest honor, the 47th Annual Life Achievement Award. Just before Freeman presented the award, Tim Conway introduced a filmed tribute to Borgnine.
17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Winners Movie Categories:
THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
COLIN FIRTH / King George VI - "THE KING’S SPEECH" (The Weinstein Company)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
NATALIE PORTMAN / Nina Sayers – “BLACK SWAN” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
CHRISTIAN BALE / Dicky Eklund – “THE FIGHTER” (Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
MELISSA LEO / Alice Ward – “THE FIGHTER” (Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media)
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (Primary cast members each get Actor trophy)
THE KING’S SPEECH (The Weinstein Company)
ANTHONY ANDREWS / Stanley Baldwin
HELENA BONHAM CARTER / Queen Elizabeth
JENNIFER EHLE / Myrtle Logue
COLIN FIRTH / King George VI
MICHAEL GAMBON / King George V
DEREK JACOBI / Archbishop Cosmo Lang
GUY PEARCE / King Edward VIII
GEOFFREY RUSH / Lionel Logue
TIMOTHY SPALL / Winston Churchill
SAG HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
INCEPTION (Warner Bros. Pictures)
LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Screen Actors Guild Awards 47th Annual Life Achievement Award
Ernest Borgnine
Morgan Freeman also presented Ernest Borgnine with Screen Actors Guild’s highest honor, the 47th Annual Life Achievement Award. Just before Freeman presented the award, Tim Conway introduced a filmed tribute to Borgnine.
17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Winners Movie Categories:
THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
COLIN FIRTH / King George VI - "THE KING’S SPEECH" (The Weinstein Company)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
NATALIE PORTMAN / Nina Sayers – “BLACK SWAN” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
CHRISTIAN BALE / Dicky Eklund – “THE FIGHTER” (Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
MELISSA LEO / Alice Ward – “THE FIGHTER” (Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media)
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (Primary cast members each get Actor trophy)
THE KING’S SPEECH (The Weinstein Company)
ANTHONY ANDREWS / Stanley Baldwin
HELENA BONHAM CARTER / Queen Elizabeth
JENNIFER EHLE / Myrtle Logue
COLIN FIRTH / King George VI
MICHAEL GAMBON / King George V
DEREK JACOBI / Archbishop Cosmo Lang
GUY PEARCE / King Edward VIII
GEOFFREY RUSH / Lionel Logue
TIMOTHY SPALL / Winston Churchill
SAG HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
INCEPTION (Warner Bros. Pictures)
LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Screen Actors Guild Awards 47th Annual Life Achievement Award
Ernest Borgnine
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
2011 Oscar Nominations: Supporting Actress
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”
Monday, January 24, 2011
Review: "Planet of the Apes" is the "Razzie Award" Winner for Worst Remake, But It's Not So Bad
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Running time: 119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sequences of action/violence
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: William Broyles, Jr., Lawrence Konner, and Mark D. Rosenthal (based upon the novel by Pierre Boulle)
PRODUCER: Richard D. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Philippe Rousselot (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
BAFTA Award nominee
SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/THRILLER with elements of adventure
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti, Estella Warren, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, David Warner, Kris Kristofferson, Erick Avari, and (uncredited) Charlton Heston
When Captain Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) leaves the safety of a United States Air Force space station, he is on an unauthorized mission to save his favorite chimp. He enters some kind of electro-magnetic storm, and his space pod crashes on an uncharted planet.
Before long, he is running through the jungle with a back of wild humans, chased by half glimpsed pursuers. A group of talking apes led by General Thade (Tim Roth) capture Davidson and the humans. Ari (Helena Bonham-Carter) buys Davidson because his intelligence and demeanor piques her interest. He convinces her to follow him on a quest to find his shipmates whom he believes are on the planet in search of him. However, a deeper mystery resides in the desert heart of their destination.
Directed by one of cinema’s finest visual stylists, Tim Burton, Planet of the Apes, the 2001 remake of the 1968 classic is noisy spectacle that is not without some nice moments. Burton has admitted to not knowing a good script when he sees one, but when he inadvertently gets one, he makes good movies (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, and Sleepy Hollow). When he gets a troubled piece of writing, the audience writhes in pain at the cinematic potential clumsily handled before their eyes (Batman Returns); this one falls somewhere in the middle.
The script is a simple cat and mouse chase story with a battle scene thrown late into the movie for a faux epic aura. Here and there are smatterings of issues of freedom, slavery, intelligence, friendship and betrayal, but the smart stuff doesn’t get in the way of the fun, dumb stuff – fist fights, gunfire and explosions. Burton expertly wields the story and creates a nearly two-hour movie that feels much shorter. It is a “lite” affair meant to entertain by keeping the protagonists in a constant state of discomfort and definite sense of entertainment.
The acting is mostly adequate professional work. Ms. Bonham-Carter creates the illusion that her character Ari has quite a bit of depth, more so than with which the action movie script can deal; there’s not too much time for character in many action movies. Michael Clarke Duncan as Thade’s right hand man-ape, Colonel Attar, is wonderfully convincing as an officer and as a leader of soldiers. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Krull, the disgraced soldier, is equally compelling; between Attar and Krull is some interesting back-story that would have greatly embellished the movie had that story been give a chance. But this is a summer bang-bang.
Planet of the Apes wastes the talented Roth, who can portray layered, multi-dimensional villains (such as the vile Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy, which earned him an Oscar nomination) behind a heavy costume. Here, the mask hides that which truly makes Roth’s gifts work, his face of a thousand expressions – exaggerated and otherwise. This is no criticism of the fantastic work of makeup effects artist Rick Baker. Once again, he uncannily delivers brilliant work. However, the glare from Baker’s skills dim the light of Roth’s thespian talents.
Light fare for sure, Planet of the Apes’ massive box office success is a surprise. But it’s clear and linear movie and it properly strings the audience along until it’s pitiable ending. By then, one gets the feeling that this entire exercise was merely the testing ground for a long lasting franchise similar to the franchise birthed from the original.
Still, the magic is in what Burton does. This is a very entertaining movie and remains so even as one tries to poke holes in it. One can hold the same light up to Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Sleepy Hollow and find all manner of ridiculousness, but they remain fun films, always ready to be popped into a VCR or DVD player and become a filling midnight video snack.
Planet of the Apes is like that and it pretty much delivers on being the vacuous treat it started out to be. Not much of a goal, but a goal attained, more or less.
6 of 10
B
NOTES:
2002 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood) and “Best Make Up/Hair” (Rick Baker, Toni G, and Kazuhiro Tsuji)
2002 Razzie Awards: 3 wins: “Worst Remake or Sequel,” “Worst Supporting Actor” (Charlton Heston), and “Worst Supporting Actress” (Estella Warren)
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Running time: 119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sequences of action/violence
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: William Broyles, Jr., Lawrence Konner, and Mark D. Rosenthal (based upon the novel by Pierre Boulle)
PRODUCER: Richard D. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Philippe Rousselot (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
BAFTA Award nominee
SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/THRILLER with elements of adventure
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti, Estella Warren, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, David Warner, Kris Kristofferson, Erick Avari, and (uncredited) Charlton Heston
When Captain Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) leaves the safety of a United States Air Force space station, he is on an unauthorized mission to save his favorite chimp. He enters some kind of electro-magnetic storm, and his space pod crashes on an uncharted planet.
Before long, he is running through the jungle with a back of wild humans, chased by half glimpsed pursuers. A group of talking apes led by General Thade (Tim Roth) capture Davidson and the humans. Ari (Helena Bonham-Carter) buys Davidson because his intelligence and demeanor piques her interest. He convinces her to follow him on a quest to find his shipmates whom he believes are on the planet in search of him. However, a deeper mystery resides in the desert heart of their destination.
Directed by one of cinema’s finest visual stylists, Tim Burton, Planet of the Apes, the 2001 remake of the 1968 classic is noisy spectacle that is not without some nice moments. Burton has admitted to not knowing a good script when he sees one, but when he inadvertently gets one, he makes good movies (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, and Sleepy Hollow). When he gets a troubled piece of writing, the audience writhes in pain at the cinematic potential clumsily handled before their eyes (Batman Returns); this one falls somewhere in the middle.
The script is a simple cat and mouse chase story with a battle scene thrown late into the movie for a faux epic aura. Here and there are smatterings of issues of freedom, slavery, intelligence, friendship and betrayal, but the smart stuff doesn’t get in the way of the fun, dumb stuff – fist fights, gunfire and explosions. Burton expertly wields the story and creates a nearly two-hour movie that feels much shorter. It is a “lite” affair meant to entertain by keeping the protagonists in a constant state of discomfort and definite sense of entertainment.
The acting is mostly adequate professional work. Ms. Bonham-Carter creates the illusion that her character Ari has quite a bit of depth, more so than with which the action movie script can deal; there’s not too much time for character in many action movies. Michael Clarke Duncan as Thade’s right hand man-ape, Colonel Attar, is wonderfully convincing as an officer and as a leader of soldiers. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Krull, the disgraced soldier, is equally compelling; between Attar and Krull is some interesting back-story that would have greatly embellished the movie had that story been give a chance. But this is a summer bang-bang.
Planet of the Apes wastes the talented Roth, who can portray layered, multi-dimensional villains (such as the vile Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy, which earned him an Oscar nomination) behind a heavy costume. Here, the mask hides that which truly makes Roth’s gifts work, his face of a thousand expressions – exaggerated and otherwise. This is no criticism of the fantastic work of makeup effects artist Rick Baker. Once again, he uncannily delivers brilliant work. However, the glare from Baker’s skills dim the light of Roth’s thespian talents.
Light fare for sure, Planet of the Apes’ massive box office success is a surprise. But it’s clear and linear movie and it properly strings the audience along until it’s pitiable ending. By then, one gets the feeling that this entire exercise was merely the testing ground for a long lasting franchise similar to the franchise birthed from the original.
Still, the magic is in what Burton does. This is a very entertaining movie and remains so even as one tries to poke holes in it. One can hold the same light up to Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Sleepy Hollow and find all manner of ridiculousness, but they remain fun films, always ready to be popped into a VCR or DVD player and become a filling midnight video snack.
Planet of the Apes is like that and it pretty much delivers on being the vacuous treat it started out to be. Not much of a goal, but a goal attained, more or less.
6 of 10
B
NOTES:
2002 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood) and “Best Make Up/Hair” (Rick Baker, Toni G, and Kazuhiro Tsuji)
2002 Razzie Awards: 3 wins: “Worst Remake or Sequel,” “Worst Supporting Actor” (Charlton Heston), and “Worst Supporting Actress” (Estella Warren)
-------------------------------
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Melissa Leo Wins Supporting Actress Golden Globe for "The Fighter"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture:
Melissa Leo for The Fighter WINNER
Amy Adams for The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech
Mila Kunis for Black Swan
Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom
Melissa Leo for The Fighter WINNER
Amy Adams for The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech
Mila Kunis for Black Swan
Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
"The King's Speech" Rules the British Independent Film Awards
Created in 1998, The British Independent Film Awards (as they describe it) celebrates merit and achievement in independently funded British filmmaking, honor new film talent, and promote British films and filmmaking to a wider public.
2010 Winners
Best British Independent Film
The King's Speech
Best Director of a British Independent Film
Gareth Edwards for Monsters
The Douglas Hickox Award
Clio Barnard for The Arbor
Best Screenplay
David Seidler for The King's Speech
Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film
Carey Mulligan for Never Let Me Go
Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film
Colin Firth for The King's Speech
Best Supporting Actress
Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech
Best Supporting Actor
Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech
Most Promising Newcomer
Joanne Froggatt for In Our Name
Best Achievement In Production
Monsters
The Raindance Award
Son of Babylon
Best Technical Achievement
Gareth Edwards for Monsters
Best British Documentary
Enemies of the People
Best British Short Film
Baby
Best Foreign Independent Film
A Prophet
The Richard Harris Award
Helena Bonham Carter
The Variety Award
Liam Neeson
The Special Jury Prize
Jenne Casarotto
For a complete list of the nominees: http://bifa.org.uk/nominations/2010
2010 Winners
Best British Independent Film
The King's Speech
Best Director of a British Independent Film
Gareth Edwards for Monsters
The Douglas Hickox Award
Clio Barnard for The Arbor
Best Screenplay
David Seidler for The King's Speech
Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film
Carey Mulligan for Never Let Me Go
Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film
Colin Firth for The King's Speech
Best Supporting Actress
Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech
Best Supporting Actor
Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech
Most Promising Newcomer
Joanne Froggatt for In Our Name
Best Achievement In Production
Monsters
The Raindance Award
Son of Babylon
Best Technical Achievement
Gareth Edwards for Monsters
Best British Documentary
Enemies of the People
Best British Short Film
Baby
Best Foreign Independent Film
A Prophet
The Richard Harris Award
Helena Bonham Carter
The Variety Award
Liam Neeson
The Special Jury Prize
Jenne Casarotto
For a complete list of the nominees: http://bifa.org.uk/nominations/2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is the One
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 96 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Running time: 146 minutes (2 hours, 26 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence, frightening images and brief sensuality
DIRECTOR: David Yates
WRITER: Steve Kloves (based upon the novel by J.K. Rowling)
PRODUCERS: David Barron and David Heyman and J.K. Rowling
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eduardo Serra
EDITOR: Mark Day
COMPOSER: Alexandre Desplat
FANTASY/ACTION/DRAMA/MYSTERY
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Bonnie Wright, Julie Walters, Mark Williams, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Felton, Brendan Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, David Thewlis, Timothy Spall, Peter Mullan, Rhys Ifans, Evanna Lynch, and Michael Gambon
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was the seventh (and final) novel in the Harry Potter book series. Warner Bros. Pictures is releasing the film adaptation of the book as two films. The first, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, is now in theatres.
Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his closest friends, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) embark on a quest to find and destroy the Horcruxes, the secrets to Lord Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) immortality. Meanwhile, Voldemort launches his latest plot to kill Harry, so the Order of the Phoenix hatches a daring mission to protect Harry. Not to be denied, Voldemort’s allies, the Death Eaters, launch a surprise attack, which scatter Harry and his allies. Harry, Ron, and Hermione continue their quest in London, where the search for a Horcux takes them into the heart of the Ministry of Magic and begins a journey that will find the friends alone with only themselves upon which to rely.
Apparently dividing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows into two movies will allow the filmmakers to make what is essentially one larger movie that is closer to its Potter book than the previous Harry Potter movies were to their respective books. One thing this split will do is allow the narrative to breathe. Some of the Potter movies always felt like they were missing something.
Sometimes, when filmmakers turn books into movies, they make the action in the book more frantic, in a way to make the narrative pop and seem livelier to movie audiences. They also leave out entire subplots and characters in adapting books to the screen. Movies, especially those created for wide public consumption, are often shallow compared to novels. Novels don’t have to offer fizzy amusement every page and sometimes show the less fun side of a character. Novels can have entire sequences that might seem boring compared to the non-stop nature of film, especially cinema of sensations, event movies, and summer tent pole flicks.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is not afraid to show the drier side of the Potter stories, and for the first time, a Harry Potter film really delves into the bittersweet of Harry Potter’s life and the complex dynamics involved in being a Potter friend, ally, or associate. Part 1 is certainly filled with exciting action scenes, breathtaking aerial duels, explosive fight scenes, sparkling displays of magic, and hot death, but it is also contemplative and emotional. This movie has both a meditative inner life and a combative outer life, which makes for a richer movie and a more fulfilling narrative.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is everything thrilling/action/fantasy that the previous Harry Potter movies were, but also something more. It has the character and drama befitting a great work of fantasy, and yes, you might even call it a Harry Potter movie that is really for adults.
9 of 10
A+
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Running time: 146 minutes (2 hours, 26 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence, frightening images and brief sensuality
DIRECTOR: David Yates
WRITER: Steve Kloves (based upon the novel by J.K. Rowling)
PRODUCERS: David Barron and David Heyman and J.K. Rowling
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eduardo Serra
EDITOR: Mark Day
COMPOSER: Alexandre Desplat
FANTASY/ACTION/DRAMA/MYSTERY
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Bonnie Wright, Julie Walters, Mark Williams, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Felton, Brendan Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, David Thewlis, Timothy Spall, Peter Mullan, Rhys Ifans, Evanna Lynch, and Michael Gambon
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was the seventh (and final) novel in the Harry Potter book series. Warner Bros. Pictures is releasing the film adaptation of the book as two films. The first, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, is now in theatres.
Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his closest friends, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) embark on a quest to find and destroy the Horcruxes, the secrets to Lord Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) immortality. Meanwhile, Voldemort launches his latest plot to kill Harry, so the Order of the Phoenix hatches a daring mission to protect Harry. Not to be denied, Voldemort’s allies, the Death Eaters, launch a surprise attack, which scatter Harry and his allies. Harry, Ron, and Hermione continue their quest in London, where the search for a Horcux takes them into the heart of the Ministry of Magic and begins a journey that will find the friends alone with only themselves upon which to rely.
Apparently dividing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows into two movies will allow the filmmakers to make what is essentially one larger movie that is closer to its Potter book than the previous Harry Potter movies were to their respective books. One thing this split will do is allow the narrative to breathe. Some of the Potter movies always felt like they were missing something.
Sometimes, when filmmakers turn books into movies, they make the action in the book more frantic, in a way to make the narrative pop and seem livelier to movie audiences. They also leave out entire subplots and characters in adapting books to the screen. Movies, especially those created for wide public consumption, are often shallow compared to novels. Novels don’t have to offer fizzy amusement every page and sometimes show the less fun side of a character. Novels can have entire sequences that might seem boring compared to the non-stop nature of film, especially cinema of sensations, event movies, and summer tent pole flicks.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is not afraid to show the drier side of the Potter stories, and for the first time, a Harry Potter film really delves into the bittersweet of Harry Potter’s life and the complex dynamics involved in being a Potter friend, ally, or associate. Part 1 is certainly filled with exciting action scenes, breathtaking aerial duels, explosive fight scenes, sparkling displays of magic, and hot death, but it is also contemplative and emotional. This movie has both a meditative inner life and a combative outer life, which makes for a richer movie and a more fulfilling narrative.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is everything thrilling/action/fantasy that the previous Harry Potter movies were, but also something more. It has the character and drama befitting a great work of fantasy, and yes, you might even call it a Harry Potter movie that is really for adults.
9 of 10
A+
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Boom Goes the Harry Potter Box Office Dynamite
Press release:
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” Breaks Franchise Record with $24 Million Midnight Opening
BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” broke the franchise record for a midnight opening, earning $24 million at the box office. The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution.
Opening at approximately 3,700 locations in North America, the midnight shows sold out in advance, as fans lined up for hours to be among the first to see Part 1 of the series’ final title.
The midnight grosses eclipsed the previous record of $22.2 million, set by the sixth film, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” which opened at midnight on July 15, 2009.
In announcing the new record, Fellman stated, “What makes it even more remarkable is that this film opened in the fall on what is, for most people, a school or work night. The last film opened in the middle of summer, making a midnight show more accessible to a larger segment of the audience. We are all thrilled by these early grosses, which we believe are just the beginning of a record-breaking opening weekend. We are releasing ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1’ at 4,125 locations and on over 9,400 screens in an effort to ensure that the fans who have been eagerly awaiting the film will have every opportunity to see it.”
Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Heyday Films Production, a David Yates Film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,” a motion picture event in two full-length parts. The film is being distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
Heading the cast, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson reprise the roles of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The film’s ensemble cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Griffiths, John Hurt, Rhys Ifans, Jason Isaacs, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Toby Jones, David Legeno, Simon McBurney, Helen McCrory, Nick Moran, Peter Mullan, David O’Hara, Clémence Poésy, Natalia Tena, Julie Walters, Mark Williams and Bonnie Wright.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” was directed by David Yates, who also helmed “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” David Heyman, the producer of all of the Harry Potter films, again produced the film, together with David Barron and J.K. Rowling. Steve Kloves adapted the screenplay, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. Lionel Wigram is the executive producer, with John Trehy and Tim Lewis serving as co-producers.
Concurrently with its theatrical release, the film is being released in select IMAX® theatres. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” has been digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® through proprietary IMAX DMR® technology.
http://www.harrypotter.com/
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” Breaks Franchise Record with $24 Million Midnight Opening
BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” broke the franchise record for a midnight opening, earning $24 million at the box office. The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution.
Opening at approximately 3,700 locations in North America, the midnight shows sold out in advance, as fans lined up for hours to be among the first to see Part 1 of the series’ final title.
The midnight grosses eclipsed the previous record of $22.2 million, set by the sixth film, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” which opened at midnight on July 15, 2009.
In announcing the new record, Fellman stated, “What makes it even more remarkable is that this film opened in the fall on what is, for most people, a school or work night. The last film opened in the middle of summer, making a midnight show more accessible to a larger segment of the audience. We are all thrilled by these early grosses, which we believe are just the beginning of a record-breaking opening weekend. We are releasing ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1’ at 4,125 locations and on over 9,400 screens in an effort to ensure that the fans who have been eagerly awaiting the film will have every opportunity to see it.”
Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Heyday Films Production, a David Yates Film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,” a motion picture event in two full-length parts. The film is being distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
Heading the cast, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson reprise the roles of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The film’s ensemble cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Griffiths, John Hurt, Rhys Ifans, Jason Isaacs, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Toby Jones, David Legeno, Simon McBurney, Helen McCrory, Nick Moran, Peter Mullan, David O’Hara, Clémence Poésy, Natalia Tena, Julie Walters, Mark Williams and Bonnie Wright.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” was directed by David Yates, who also helmed “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” David Heyman, the producer of all of the Harry Potter films, again produced the film, together with David Barron and J.K. Rowling. Steve Kloves adapted the screenplay, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. Lionel Wigram is the executive producer, with John Trehy and Tim Lewis serving as co-producers.
Concurrently with its theatrical release, the film is being released in select IMAX® theatres. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” has been digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® through proprietary IMAX DMR® technology.
http://www.harrypotter.com/
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix a Lean and Mean Movie
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 108 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Running time: 138 minutes (2 hours, 18 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images
DIRECTOR: David Yates
WRITER: Michael Goldenberg (based upon the book by J.K. Rowling)
PRODUCERS: David Barron and David Heyman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Slawomir Idziak (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Mark Day
BAFTA Awards nominee
FANTASY/DRAMA/ACTION/MYSTERY/THRILLER
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Imelda Staunton, Robbie Coltrane, Jason Isaacs, Matthew Lewis, Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Bonnie Wright, Katie Leung, and George Harris
Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) enters his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with something of a bad attitude. He’s spent another miserable summer with his sour and despicable relatives, the Dursleys, and none of his friends, especially Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), had the decency to contact him. Feeling hungry and edgy for news from the magic world, Harry discovers that his friends have been keeping secrets from him, and Harry’s anxious to know if there is any news about the activities of the recently revived Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).
Returning to Hogwarts isn’t any relief. The new “Defense against the Dark Arts” instructor, Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) is a notorious busybody intent on bending both faculty and staff to her iron will. She does her best to discourage spell-casting and any discussion of Voldemort, who is often referred to as “He who must not be named.” Harry, however, gathers a small, loyal group of classmates and trains them to be his secret army for when (not if) Voldemort strikes. Harry also meets the remnants of the Order of the Phoenix, an organization founded by Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) to counter Voldemort. Still, most of the magic community is willfully blind to the signs that Voldemort is rebuilding his army, and Harry isn’t sure that his own small army will be up to the task of stopping the Dark Lord.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is darker than the other Potter films. It’s darker even than 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but Order of the Phoenix is much less expansive than Goblet of Fire or 2004’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, both of which were large, elegant films with high production values and epic stories. Order of the Phoenix is leaner and meaner. David Yates directs some of this film as if it were a TV movie, but the Potter magic shines through Yates determination to make a terse drama. The costumes are darker, and the art direction and set decoration is mostly spare.
The film’s opening act is fast paced and edgy, and the last act is killer. In between are some truly exciting and thrilling moments, but most of the middle involves the tiresome subplot which sees Dolores Umbridge take on the status quo at Hogwarts. The Umbridge character as portrayed in the film is annoying, and not always in an entertaining manner. When Voldemort attacks in the last act, the appearance of the dark lord almost makes me forget the dour Hogwarts segment… almost.
6 of 10
B
Friday, July 27, 2007
NOTES:
2008 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Production Design” (Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan) and “Best Special Visual Effects” (Tim Burke, John Richardson, Emma Norton, and Chris Shaw)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Running time: 138 minutes (2 hours, 18 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images
DIRECTOR: David Yates
WRITER: Michael Goldenberg (based upon the book by J.K. Rowling)
PRODUCERS: David Barron and David Heyman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Slawomir Idziak (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Mark Day
BAFTA Awards nominee
FANTASY/DRAMA/ACTION/MYSTERY/THRILLER
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Imelda Staunton, Robbie Coltrane, Jason Isaacs, Matthew Lewis, Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Bonnie Wright, Katie Leung, and George Harris
Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) enters his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with something of a bad attitude. He’s spent another miserable summer with his sour and despicable relatives, the Dursleys, and none of his friends, especially Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), had the decency to contact him. Feeling hungry and edgy for news from the magic world, Harry discovers that his friends have been keeping secrets from him, and Harry’s anxious to know if there is any news about the activities of the recently revived Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).
Returning to Hogwarts isn’t any relief. The new “Defense against the Dark Arts” instructor, Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) is a notorious busybody intent on bending both faculty and staff to her iron will. She does her best to discourage spell-casting and any discussion of Voldemort, who is often referred to as “He who must not be named.” Harry, however, gathers a small, loyal group of classmates and trains them to be his secret army for when (not if) Voldemort strikes. Harry also meets the remnants of the Order of the Phoenix, an organization founded by Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) to counter Voldemort. Still, most of the magic community is willfully blind to the signs that Voldemort is rebuilding his army, and Harry isn’t sure that his own small army will be up to the task of stopping the Dark Lord.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is darker than the other Potter films. It’s darker even than 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but Order of the Phoenix is much less expansive than Goblet of Fire or 2004’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, both of which were large, elegant films with high production values and epic stories. Order of the Phoenix is leaner and meaner. David Yates directs some of this film as if it were a TV movie, but the Potter magic shines through Yates determination to make a terse drama. The costumes are darker, and the art direction and set decoration is mostly spare.
The film’s opening act is fast paced and edgy, and the last act is killer. In between are some truly exciting and thrilling moments, but most of the middle involves the tiresome subplot which sees Dolores Umbridge take on the status quo at Hogwarts. The Umbridge character as portrayed in the film is annoying, and not always in an entertaining manner. When Voldemort attacks in the last act, the appearance of the dark lord almost makes me forget the dour Hogwarts segment… almost.
6 of 10
B
Friday, July 27, 2007
NOTES:
2008 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Production Design” (Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan) and “Best Special Visual Effects” (Tim Burke, John Richardson, Emma Norton, and Chris Shaw)
Friday, October 1, 2010
Fight Club: David Fincher's Best Movie? Brad Pitt's Best Performance?
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 86 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux
Fight Club (1999)
DIRECTOR: David Fincher
WRITER: Jim Uhls (based upon the novel of the same title by Chuck Palahniuk)
PRODUCERS: Ross Grayson Bell, Ceán Chaffin, and Art Linson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeff Cronenweth
EDITOR: James Haygood
COMPOSERS: Dust Brothers (John King and Michael Simpson)
Academy Awards nominee
DRAMA/THRILLER with elements of action
Starring: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier, and Jared Leto
Some films fans believe that the glamour of old Hollywood, or of the so-called Golden Age, is gone. True or not, there are young actors today that the camera loves as much as it did Humphrey Bogart or Greta Garb, such as Keanu Reeves, Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Johnny Depp among others. Another star that the camera definitely loves is the talented and ambitious Brad Pitt.
In David Fincher’s (Se7en) Fight Club, Pitt plays the alluring stranger Tyler Durden who introduces a disillusioned spiritual brother Jack, who is also the film Narrator, (Edward Norton, American History X) to the living. Jack has a white color job, suffers from insomnia, and consumes expensive, brand name items to fill in the hole in himself and his life. Jack becomes Durden’s first convert to Fight Club, which rapidly grows into an underground cabal of restless, directionless GenX’ers and late Baby Boomers. The club meets in hidee-holes, and the members pummel each other to a bloody mess. Perhaps, it is because pain is life and life is pain. Perhaps, these young men, who never knew the Great Depression or life as a soldier/combatant in an international war, need to know pain and suffering. Maybe, through beating each other they get to be men with each other etc. blah, blah, blah.
During his career as a music video director, Fincher showed enormous promise as a filmmaker with his videos for Madonna: Express Yourself, Oh Father, and Vogue. The politics of studio filmmaking crushed his debut Alien3, but with Se7en and The Game, his potential to be one of the best visualists since Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) and David Lynch (Blue Velvet) was again show to audiences around the world.
This film by Fincher is as much visual and symbolic as it is literal. For all its notions of male empowerment and of cutting away the material trappings of a corrupted civilization, Fight Club really delineates spiritual conundrums and the struggles with identity. It is the visual equivalent of a novel, but the novel as art and literature. With all that camera weaving and dodging, Fincher is essentially writing a novel. What words do for a book, his camera makes images do for a film. The film digs deeper than just angry white boys. Why are they angry? When are they angry? How are they angry? What else is going on in the world of Fight Club? Fincher answers those questions and builds a complex structure of story and environment that becomes a film. While it is eye candy for the male in the vein of Pulp Fiction, Fight Club has visual layers and subtexts awaiting the ambitious viewer. Does it take music video directors and directors of commercial advertisements to realize that the story, the characters, and the setting are best conveyed visually in film because a movie is all about what’s on the screen?
Norton is very good; a talented actor he can play the gamut of human emotions, from extreme to subtle. Helena Bonham Carter (Wings of the Dove) is a very talented actress, but she’s often lost in supporting roles. Here, as love interest/sex partner, Marla Singer, her part is extraneous, but the camera loves her. Whatever should could have brought to enrich the story is lost. The true gift of this movie is Pitt as the puckish phantasm, Durden. Whenever he gets a good role, Pitt lights up the screen, and the movie surges with energy and vitality. Many filmmakers have wasted his good looks and great talent; Fincher takes full advantage of having him.
The film does have its flaws, notably Jack’s narration, (in addition to the short shrift of Marla), which is sometimes redundant when the visuals serve the same purpose. Some interesting characters end up as ciphers and aimlessly fill up screen time when they could have served a definite purpose. However, Fincher and screenwriter Jim Uhls have created a beautiful and surrealistic film that is, like successful artistic efforts in other mediums, a statement about the time in which it appears. And heck, Fight Club is just plain fun to experience.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2000 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Ren Klyce and Richard Hymns)
---------------
Fight Club (1999)
DIRECTOR: David Fincher
WRITER: Jim Uhls (based upon the novel of the same title by Chuck Palahniuk)
PRODUCERS: Ross Grayson Bell, Ceán Chaffin, and Art Linson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeff Cronenweth
EDITOR: James Haygood
COMPOSERS: Dust Brothers (John King and Michael Simpson)
Academy Awards nominee
DRAMA/THRILLER with elements of action
Starring: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier, and Jared Leto
Some films fans believe that the glamour of old Hollywood, or of the so-called Golden Age, is gone. True or not, there are young actors today that the camera loves as much as it did Humphrey Bogart or Greta Garb, such as Keanu Reeves, Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Johnny Depp among others. Another star that the camera definitely loves is the talented and ambitious Brad Pitt.
In David Fincher’s (Se7en) Fight Club, Pitt plays the alluring stranger Tyler Durden who introduces a disillusioned spiritual brother Jack, who is also the film Narrator, (Edward Norton, American History X) to the living. Jack has a white color job, suffers from insomnia, and consumes expensive, brand name items to fill in the hole in himself and his life. Jack becomes Durden’s first convert to Fight Club, which rapidly grows into an underground cabal of restless, directionless GenX’ers and late Baby Boomers. The club meets in hidee-holes, and the members pummel each other to a bloody mess. Perhaps, it is because pain is life and life is pain. Perhaps, these young men, who never knew the Great Depression or life as a soldier/combatant in an international war, need to know pain and suffering. Maybe, through beating each other they get to be men with each other etc. blah, blah, blah.
During his career as a music video director, Fincher showed enormous promise as a filmmaker with his videos for Madonna: Express Yourself, Oh Father, and Vogue. The politics of studio filmmaking crushed his debut Alien3, but with Se7en and The Game, his potential to be one of the best visualists since Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) and David Lynch (Blue Velvet) was again show to audiences around the world.
This film by Fincher is as much visual and symbolic as it is literal. For all its notions of male empowerment and of cutting away the material trappings of a corrupted civilization, Fight Club really delineates spiritual conundrums and the struggles with identity. It is the visual equivalent of a novel, but the novel as art and literature. With all that camera weaving and dodging, Fincher is essentially writing a novel. What words do for a book, his camera makes images do for a film. The film digs deeper than just angry white boys. Why are they angry? When are they angry? How are they angry? What else is going on in the world of Fight Club? Fincher answers those questions and builds a complex structure of story and environment that becomes a film. While it is eye candy for the male in the vein of Pulp Fiction, Fight Club has visual layers and subtexts awaiting the ambitious viewer. Does it take music video directors and directors of commercial advertisements to realize that the story, the characters, and the setting are best conveyed visually in film because a movie is all about what’s on the screen?
Norton is very good; a talented actor he can play the gamut of human emotions, from extreme to subtle. Helena Bonham Carter (Wings of the Dove) is a very talented actress, but she’s often lost in supporting roles. Here, as love interest/sex partner, Marla Singer, her part is extraneous, but the camera loves her. Whatever should could have brought to enrich the story is lost. The true gift of this movie is Pitt as the puckish phantasm, Durden. Whenever he gets a good role, Pitt lights up the screen, and the movie surges with energy and vitality. Many filmmakers have wasted his good looks and great talent; Fincher takes full advantage of having him.
The film does have its flaws, notably Jack’s narration, (in addition to the short shrift of Marla), which is sometimes redundant when the visuals serve the same purpose. Some interesting characters end up as ciphers and aimlessly fill up screen time when they could have served a definite purpose. However, Fincher and screenwriter Jim Uhls have created a beautiful and surrealistic film that is, like successful artistic efforts in other mediums, a statement about the time in which it appears. And heck, Fight Club is just plain fun to experience.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2000 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Ren Klyce and Richard Hymns)
---------------
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Review: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" Revels in Character Drama
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Running time: 153 minutes (2 hours, 33 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality
DIRECTOR: David Yates
WRITER: Steve Kloves (based upon the novel by J.K. Rowling)
PRODUCERS: David Barron and David Heyman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bruno Delbonnel (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Mark Day
Academy Award nominee
FANTASY/DRAMA/MYSTERY
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Maggie Smith, Bonnie Wright, Julie Walters, Mark Williams, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Felton, Elarica Gallacher, and Hero Fiennes-Tiffin
The sixth installment of the Harry Potter film franchise, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, finds the dark lord, Voldemort increasing his attacks on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds. As he begins his sixth year, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) believes that Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was, so he searches the school for hidden enemies. Harry focuses his investigation on his rival, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), who does seem to be creeping around the castle a lot. Meanwhile, in the halls of Hogwarts, love is in the air
However, Hogwarts’ headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), is more focused on preparing Harry for the coming final battle with Voldemort that he knows is fast approaching. Together, Dumbledore and Harry work to discover the truth behind Voldemort’s powers. Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, Professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), a well-connected wizard who previously taught at Hogwarts, as the new potions instructor. Slughorn holds information that could be crucial in the battle with Voldemort, because Slughorn was a mentor to 11-year-old Tom Riddle (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin), the student who would become the dark lord.
Meanwhile, some of the students are feeling the rage of teenage hormones. Harry finds himself increasingly drawn to Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright), the sister of his best friend Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), but another student, Dean Thomas (Alfie Enoch), is also vying for Ginny’s attention. The spunky Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave) has marked Ron for amorous conquest, which makes Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), who has strong feelings for Ron, simmer with jealousy (although Hermione is determined not to show her feelings). Remaining aloof from the romance, Draco looks to make his own dark mark, one that may lead to tragedy.
The way it begins, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
looks like it is going to be a long slog through a muddled movie full of mumbling characters and awkward scenes, but the film turns out to be a delight. At times, this movie seems entirely divorced from the magical reality created by J.K. Rowling
, author the Harry Potter series of books from which this film series is adapted (as if you didn’t know…). However, the focus of Half-Blood Prince is on character drama. This is the first time in the series that the story really stops to consider the costs (personal and professional) of the state of civil war in the wizarding world.Playing Draco Malfoy, actor Tom Felton portrays the costs of that war and the toll it a takes on the youth of the wizarding role, in his best performance to date. Michael Gambon, playing Dumbledore as a fierce Christ-like warrior marching inevitably towards his doom, also turns in a good performance. The always-good Jim Broadbent balances the bon vivant façade behind which Horace Slughorn hides his guilt with a sense of quiet desperation.
The rest of the cast, especially the star trio of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson are more earnest than good, but they sell their parts well. They’re also the best they’ve been at depicting the puppy love at which they’ve only teased in the earlier films. Somehow, this story of love and war comes together, until, by the end, you wish Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince wouldn’t end.
7 of 10
B+
NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Bruno Delbonnel)
2010 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Production Design” (Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan) and “Best Special Visual Effects” (John Richardson, Tim Burke, Tim Alexander, and Nicolas Aithadi)
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
--------------------------
Monday, March 8, 2010
Review: Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" is Really Gassy in Blunderland
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITER: Linda Woolverton (based upon the books, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll)
PRODUCERS: Joe Roth, Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd, and Richard D. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dariusz Wolski (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
FANTASY
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, and Christopher Lee with the voices of Michael Gough and Imelda Staunton
Director Tim Burton is a maestro. He can gather film actors, artists, artisans, craftsmen, etc. and bring them together to create cinematic worlds that dazzle our eyes and capture our imaginations. He has done that time and again in such films as Nightmare Before Christmas
and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, among many. Yet three times, I almost fell asleep in the theatre while trying to watch Burton’s new film, Alice in Wonderland.Tim Burton once said that he wouldn’t know a good movie script if he saw one, and Alice in Wonderland testifies to that. Alice in Wonderland is dazzling to look at, but the story is nothing but hot air. In the hands of screenwriter, Linda Woolverton, this return journey to Wonderland is a trip to nowhere.
This new Alice in Wonderland is actually a kind of sequel to the original stories. The Alice of Lewis Carroll’s famous books, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
(1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1872), is now 19-year-old Alice Kingsley (Mia Wasikowska). Alice is about to become engaged to a wealthy nobleman, when she once again follows the White Rabbit (voice of Michael Sheen) down the rabbit hole to Underland, the place she visited 13 years earlier and named “Wonderland.” Underland is in trouble, oppressed by a reign of terror launched by the Red Queen (Helen Bonham Carter), who now rules Underland.Alice doesn’t remember much about her first trip to Underland, but it turns out that she may be the chosen one, prophesized to end the tyranny of the Red Queen and restore her sister, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), to the throne. Alice falls in with a conspiracy or rebellion against the Red Queen. Some of the members are the White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, and of course, the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp). The Hatter seems to be the leader, but his madness has left him broken down. Regardless of what help her friends may or may not be able to give her, Alice will have to face her destiny alone. She must slay the Jabberwocky (voice of Christopher Lee), the dragon that the Red Queen uses to terrorize the land.
The original Alice in Wonderland stories didn’t have plot or characterization (a deliberate move on the author’s part, I think). For this new film, screenwriter Linda Woolverton made Alice a heroine and gave her a cause, obstacles, and a goal to achieve. Now, Alice in Wonderland seems like just another big budget, Hollywood, fantasy action movie. It’s like Lord of the Rings
or The Chronicles of Narnia, but with grrl-power. Who is going to believe that this pale, skinny girl can take on the world, let alone save another world?On the surface, Burton effectively creates a twisted vision of Wonderland, complete with deranged characters, warped personalities, and wonderfully ingenious creatures – like the computer-generated, way-cool, smoky Cheshire Cat (superbly given voice by Stephen Fry). The story, however, is just dull and, as hard as Woolverton tries to be inventive, the best this tale can do is replace your sleeping pills.
What starts off seeming so enchanted becomes tiresome. Johnny Depp’s take on the Mad Hatter mirrors this movie’s problem – pretty, colorful, creative, but a bumbling mess of misfires and mumbled lines. As bad as Depp is, Anne Hathaway is so impossibly bad as the White Queen that I’m just at a loss to explain it. As the Red Queen, Helena Bonham Carter gives the only coherent, quality performance of any of the Underland characters. Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland 2010 is not a turd. I don’t think Tim Burton could ever make a truly bad film, but as amazing as it looks, this mediocre movie sometimes comes across like a loud fart.
5 of 10
B-
Monday, March 08, 2010
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Friday, March 5, 2010
Review: "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" Has Big Wow Factor
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
OPENING DATE: July 15, 2005
Running time: 120 minutes (2 hours)
MPAA – PG for quirky situations, action and mild language
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITER: John August
PRODUCERS: Brad Grey and Richard D. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Philippe Rousselot, A.F.C./A.S.C.
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon, A.C.E.
Academy Award nominee
FANTASY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY/FAMILY with elements of drama
Starring: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Helena Bonham Carter, Noah Taylor, Missi Pyle and Annasophia Robb, James Fox and Julia Winter, with Deep Roy and Christopher Lee, Adam Godley and Jordan Fry, Franziska Troegner and Philip Wiegratz, Blair Dunlop, Liz Smith, Eileen Essell, David Morris, Oscar James, and Danny Elfman (vocals)
Author Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was first translated to the screen in 1971 and entitled, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Now, Tim Burton, one of the most vividly imaginative directors of the last two decades, brings the book to the screen again in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Charlie is the most vividly imaginative movie since the Japanese animated film, Spirited Away. If not for a clunky ending, this would be the best film of this calendar year, but as it stands it still is the most beautiful and inventive film of the year to date. Be warned though, this is tasty, but dark, bitter chocolate and might offend lovers of the sweetly, sentimental chocolate of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Charlie Bucket is a poor boy who lives in a rickety, ultra-rundown home with his mother (Helena Bonham Carter) and father (Noah Taylor) and both pairs of grandparents. Charlie is a good-hearted boy, and every night he goes to bed dreaming about what might be inside the great factory he can see outside his window. The factory belongs to the legendary candy maker and chocolatier, Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp). Once upon a time, Charlie’s Grandpa Joe (David Kelly) worked at the Wonka factory; that was before Wonka closed the factory after his employees started selling his candy making secrets to his dastardly rivals. Now, the factory is running again, and Wonka makes a fabulous announcement one day. He will open his factory and reveal all its secrets and magic to five lucky children who find golden tickets hidden inside five randomly selected Wonka Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight bars. Charlie finds the final golden ticket and takes Grandpa Joe with him. They meet the highly unconventional Wonka and discover untold wonder inside the bowels of the factory building. Charlie’s generosity, however, will take him a long way with the irregular and quirky Wonka, and he may be the child who wins the biggest prize of all.
To see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the big screen makes one realize the incredible amount of work these filmmakers put into getting this film right. I can’t help but appreciate the effort they went through to make a great fantasy film that would appeal to children as well as adults. Forty live squirrels were trained to create an intricate scene. One man played the Oompa Loompas, the workers who run Wonka’s factory – Deep Roy. He did countless retakes to create the separate routines of the individual Oompas with “motion capture animation” doing the rest of the work in bring the diminutive humans to life. Just those two instances alone make me thankful for what I got in this film.
Production Designer Alex McDowell (Fight Club and Minority Report) combined digital technologies with traditional design and created a magical world that previously could only come alive in the mind of a children’s book illustrator. Simultaneously futuristic and classic fantasy, recalling films as diverse as The Matrix and The Wizard of Oz, McDowell creates an interior world for Wonka’s factory that is as mind-bending as The Matrix and is as dreamlike as The Wizard of Oz. Director of Photography and Oscar winner, Philippe Rousselot (A River Runs Through It), continually captures incredible flights of the imagination in cinema. Incredibly, he tops his work from earlier this year, Constantine, with Charlie by making the real, the unreal, and the hyper-real seem so tangible and true.
Johnny Depp gives a daring performance that is so weird it could have been a disaster; in fact, the first time he fully appears on screen, his powdery pallor makes him look like Michael Jackson. Dressed in the costumes of Academy Award winner Gabriella Pescucci (The Age of Innocence), Depp is the most dashing weirdo and creep, and he leads both the children in the film and the ones in the audience through a world that is as outlandish and bizarre as he. Depp, however, is the master of creating quirky leading men among the actors of his generation, and he creates another character that begs to be seen.
The rest of the cast is also good, but Freddie Highmore, who co-starred alongside Depp in Finding Neverland, is a born child movie star. When this flick’s other juvenile stars are onscreen, it’s obvious they are stealing time from Freddie’s Charlie. That is one of the few mistakes that screenwriter John August and Burton make. Charlie seems to have to wait too far in the background for too long while the rest of the children are happily dispatched from the tale. Sometimes it seems as if this film is more Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and less Charlie.
Still Burton has made by far his best film since 1999’s Sleepy Hollow, and this phantasmagorical movie reaffirms our faith his ability to create visionaries fables set in storybook worlds. However, Burton’s worlds are darkly mysterious fantasies instead of the brightly, sunny, commercial pap that passes for much of children’s entertainment now. While Charlie and the Chocolate Factory may go way over children’s heads, Tim Burton’s dazzling visions are truly meant for film lovers, and Charlie is a treat for the family audience and a gift for the rest of us who appreciate this god among directors.
8 of 10
A
NOTE:
2006 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Gabriella Pescucci)
2006 BAFTA Awards: 4 nominations: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Nick Davis, Jon Thum, Chas Jarrett, and Joss Williams), “Best Costume Design” (Gabriella Pescucci), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Peter Owen and Ivana Primorac), and “Best Production Design” (Alex McDowell)
2006 Golden Globes: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Johnny Depp)
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