BTJA Announces Nominations for First Critics’ Choice Television Awards
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA), a new offshoot of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, today announced nominations for the inaugural Critics’ Choice Television Awards, hosted by Cat Deeley and scheduled to take place at a luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel on June 20, 2011.
ABC was the most nominated broadcast network with 16 nominations, followed closely by NBC with 12. AMC and FX led nominations for cable networks, with nine each. Modern Family was the most nominated series with six.
Best Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire - HBO
Dexter - Showtime
Friday Night Lights - DirecTV
Fringe - FOX
Game of Thrones - HBO
The Good Wife - CBS
Justified - FX
The Killing - AMC
Mad Men - AMC
The Walking Dead - AMC
Best Actor in a Drama Series
Steve Buscemi - Boardwalk Empire - HBO
Kyle Chandler - Friday Night Lights - DirecTV
Michael C. Hall - Dexter - Showtime
Jon Hamm - Mad Men - AMC
William H. Macy - Shameless - Showtime
Timothy Olyphant - Justified - FX
Best Actress in a Drama Series
Connie Britton - Friday Night Lights - DirecTV
Mireille Enos - The Killing - AMC
Julianna Margulies - The Good Wife - CBS
Elisabeth Moss - Mad Men - AMC
Katey Sagal - Sons of Anarchy - FX
Anna Torv - Fringe - FOX
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Alan Cumming - The Good Wife - CBS
Walton Goggins - Justified - FX
Shawn Hatosy - Southland - TNT
John Noble - Fringe - FOX
Michael Pitt - Boardwalk Empire - HBO
John Slattery - Mad Men - AMC
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Michelle Forbes - The Killing - AMC
Christina Hendricks - Mad Men - AMC
Margo Martindale - Justified - FX
Kelly Macdonald - Boardwalk Empire - HBO
Archie Panjabi - The Good Wife - CBS
Chloë Sevigny - Big Love - HBO
Best Reality Series
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - ABC
Hoarders - A&E
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills - Bravo
Sister Wives - TLC
Undercover Boss - CBS
Best Reality Series – Competition
The Amazing Race - CBS
American Idol - FOX
Dancing with the Stars - ABC
Project Runway - Lifetime
RuPaul’s Drag Race - Logo
Top Chef - Bravo
Best Reality Show Host
Tom Bergeron - Dancing with the Stars - ABC
Cat Deeley - So You Think You Can Dance - FOX
Ty Pennington - Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - ABC
Mike Rowe - Dirty Jobs - Discovery
Ryan Seacrest - American Idol - FOX
Best Talk Show
Chelsea Lately - E!
The Daily Show - Comedy Central
The Ellen DeGeneres Show - Warner Bros.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! - ABC
The Oprah Winfrey Show - Harpo
Best Comedy Series
Archer - FX
The Big Bang Theory - CBS
Community - NBC
Glee - FOX
Louie - FX
The Middle - ABC
Modern Family - ABC
The Office - NBC
Parks and Recreation - NBC
30 Rock - NBC
Best Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock - NBC
Steve Carell - The Office - NBC
Louis C.K. - Louie - FX
Charlie Day - It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia - FX
Joel McHale - Community - NBC
Jim Parsons - The Big Bang Theory - CBS
Best Actress in a Comedy Series
Courteney Cox - Cougar Town - ABC
Edie Falco - Nurse Jackie - Showtime
Tina Fey - 30 Rock - NBC
Patricia Heaton - The Middle - ABC
Martha Plimpton - Raising Hope - FOX
Amy Poehler - Parks and Recreation - NBC
Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Ty Burrell - Modern Family - ABC
Neil Patrick Harris - How I Met Your Mother - CBS
Nick Offerman - Parks and Recreation - NBC
Ed O’Neill - Modern Family - ABC
Danny Pudi - Community - NBC
Eric Stonestreet - Modern Family - ABC
Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Julie Bowen - Modern Family - ABC
Jane Krakowski - 30 Rock - NBC
Jane Lynch - Glee - FOX
Busy Philipps - Cougar Town - ABC
Eden Sher - The Middle - ABC
Sofía Vergara - Modern Family - ABC
Submissions are still being accepted for The Most Exciting New Series category.
Cable and satellite network REELZCHANNEL, available in more than 58 million homes, will broadcast the Critics’ Choice Television Awards premiering on June 22 at 8 p.m. ET and repeating at 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. ET. The Awards will be rebroadcast throughout the week. VH1.com will exclusively live stream the awards show on June 20 and will make select footage available for on-demand viewing following the star-studded event. VH1.com will also offer celebrity interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and an opportunity for fans to interact with celebrities backstage with its "fan-cam" stream. Bob Bain will executive produce the show for Bob Bain Productions.
The Critics’ Choice Television Awards honors programs and performances that aired between June 1, 2010 and May 31, 2011.
About BTJA
The newly formed Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA) is a partner organization to the Broadcast Film Critics Association. BTJA includes TV, radio and Internet journalists who cover television on a regular basis. The organization is launching the inaugural Critics’ Choice Television Awards on June 20, 2011 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. For more information, visit: http://www.criticschoice.com/
Friday, June 10, 2011
The A.V. Club Talks to John Sayles
Thursday, June 9, 2011
About This Movie: SUPER 8
Bad Robot/Amblin Entertainment Production
WRITER/DIRECTOR: J.J. Abrams
PRODUCERS: Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk
OPENING DATE: Friday, June 10, 2011
RUNTIME: 112 minutes
RATING: MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence and some drug use
Starring: Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Gabriel Basso, Noah Emmerich, Ron Eldard, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee and Zach Mills
Synopsis:
In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth - something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.
Review: Strong Quartet Leads Us "Closer" (Happy B'day, Natalie Portman)
Closer (2004)
Running time: 104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)
MPAA – R for sequences of graphic sexual dialogue, nudity/sexuality, and language
DIRECTOR: Mike Nichols
WRITER: Patrick Marber (based upon his play)
PRODUCERS: Cary Brokaw, John Calley, and Mike Nichols
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen Goldblatt
EDITOR: John Bloom
Academy Award nominee
DRAMA with elements of romance
Starring: Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owens
Mike Nichols directed the extraordinary Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, an adaptation of a stage drama, which earned Nichols an Oscar nom for direction. He won an Emmy in 2004 for directing another acclaimed stage play, Angels in America, this time for television. Nichols again guides a play to the silver screen with Closer, from Patrick Marber’s play.
The film focuses on four casual strangers, their chance meetings, instant attractions, and casual betrayals. Daniel (Jude Laws), a newspaper obituary writer, spies Alice (Natalie Portman), a waif who is also a stripper, in the streets of London. He falls for her. Later, Dan is instantly attracted to and falls in love with Anna (Julia Roberts), an American photographer and divorcee living in London. However, Dan inadvertently connects Anna with Larry (Clive Owens), a dermatologists, who falls deeply in love with Anna. The rest of the film follows this kind of love quadrangle and the emotional fallout from the betrayals these four commit against one another.
Closer is strictly an adult drama, and a damn fine one, at that. The language is frank, sexually explicit, profane, and straight razor sharp, and the characters certainly apply the blade to their relationships and lovers. Nichols, as he usually does, quietly allows the drama of the script to come to the surface and gives his actors the chance to bring some truth to the fiction, and boy, do they. Sometimes, it seems that some things in human sexual and personal relationships shouldn’t be onscreen, and I certainly thought that some of the drama in Closer went too far. Still, that doesn’t seem bad when it’s a skilled filmmaker doing it. Anyway, this is a formal and stylized version of the brutality that can result from deeply intimate relationships that are wrecked on the rocks of betrayal and infidelity, so it’s not too discomforting.
Although I consider the script to be the champion of this film, the cast is quite good in making this so riveting a drama when it could have struck a note as phony. Jude Law, Clive Owen, and Natalie Portman are especially potent. Natalie Portman makes another star turn, as if she hasn’t already done that, and we get to see how beautiful and how super duper fine her body is. What a knockout ass she has! Owen reeks of danger, aggression, wildness, vitality, and virility. Law is smooth and charming, and creates a three-dimensional portrait of self-obsession and romantic neurosis. Julia Roberts is good, but is the least of the four actors. She stands out a few times in the middle of the film, but overall, she seems determined not to stand out or chewy up the scenery. She supposedly likes to do ensemble work because she doesn’t want to always carry a film or stand out in front of everyone. Here, that attitude not to steal the spotlight hurts the film a little and her performance a lot.
9 of 10
A+
NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Clive Owen) and “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Natalie Portman)
2005 BAFTA Awards: 1 win “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Clive Owen); 2 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Natalie Portman) and “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Patrick Marber)
2005 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Clive Owen) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Natalie Portman); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Mike Nichols), “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Patrick Marber)
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Review: Johnny Depp Puts His Foot in "Finding Neverland" (Happy B'day, Johnny Depp)
Finding Neverland (2004)
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)
MPAA – PG for mild thematic elements and brief language
DIRECTOR: Marc Forster
WRITER: David Magee (based upon the play The Man Who was Peter Pan by Allan Knee)
PRODUCERS: Nellie Bellflower and Richard N. Gladstein
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roberto Schaefer
EDITOR: Matt Chesse
Academy Award winner
DRAMA with elements of fantasy
Starring: Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, Radha Mitchell, Dustin Hoffman, Freddie Highmore, Joe Prospero, Nick Roud, Luke Spill, Ian Hart, and Kelly Macdonald
Finding Neverland is set in London in 1904 and follows dramatist Sir James Matthew (J.M.) Barrie’s (Johnny Depp) creative process and journey in writing the stage drama that would bring Peter Pan, one of the most beloved creations of children’s stories, to life. Barrie’s inspiration begins when he meets a widow, Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet), and her four young sons: Jack (Joe Prospero), George (Nick), Michael (Luke Spill), and Peter (Freddie Highmore), the one to whom Barrie feels closest. Barrie becomes an intimate friend of Sylvia and the boys, so he visits them often and plays games with the boys.
However, his relationship with the Davies starts ugly rumors in London, according to Barrie’s friend, Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Ian Hart). Barrie’s wife, Mary (Radha Mitchell), is a bit envious of James’ relationship with the Davies, and Sylvia’s mother, Mrs. Emma du Maurier (Julie Christie), thinks Barrie’s relationship with Sylvia is keeping her daughter from getting a new husband. Barrie, of course, remains close with the Davies, even as Sylvia becomes gravely ill. Her sons, who’ve already lost their father, are worried, especially Peter who still feels that his parents lied to him when his father was dying. Still, they all soldier on until Peter Pan premieres at the Duke of York Theatre and changes all their lives.
Although the film and the screenplay’s source (a play by Allan Knee) play loose with history (Sylvia’s husband Arthur was alive and well when Peter Pan premiered and the couple had five sons, although the fifth was born around the time of the play’s premiere), Finding Neverland is a spectacular reinvention of J.M. Barrie’s journey in creating Peter Pan. Both the Peter Pan stage play and subsequent novel are rife with issues of death, eternal youth, boyhood, and the loss of loved ones. Finding Neverland tackles those themes without blinking, yet the film isn’t morbid or peculiar. Director Marc Forster and screenwriter David Magee have the characters navigate their way through the difficult times in life with brave faces.
I’m amazed by the fact that this film avoids easy answers when it comes to dealing with the loss of loved ones and also by the fact that Forster doesn’t turn his story by turning on the water works. Finding Neverland is never sentimental or overly emotional, although that can be a bit of a problem; at times, this film’s mood is too stiff, cold, and formal. Forster, who made the searing 2001 drama Monster’s Ball, makes this film too severe for most of the first half. Early on, Finding Neverland seems to lumber, and this makes the actors come across an amateurs delivering dry, wooden dialogue. Forster’s picture really doesn’t come together until late in the second act.
For all Forster’s trouble with narrative rhythm in this film, he does allow his entire cast to come into their own. Every actor gives a fine performance and contributes something meaningful to the story’s outcome. Johnny Depp’s performance has gotten most of the attention since this film debuted. He shines in his scenes with Julie Christie as Barrie’s wife and with Freddie Highmore as Peter Llewelyn Davies, but his finest moments are the times he quietly and subtly tells the tale of Barrie’s imagination. His eyes are like windows into Barrie’s interior worlds.
When Forster and Magee bring to life Barrie’s imagination for either the characters or the audience to experience, Depp’s face takes on that look of wonder that has captivated audiences in Depp’s collaborations with director Tim Burton, such as Ed Wood or Sleepy Hollow. However, having grown as an actor, Depp makes Barrie a man who still remembers and understands the fears, mysteries, and wonders of childhood without making his Barrie a stereotype such as the childlike man, the man child, or the man with a sense of “childlike wonder.” Depp’s performance carries this movie and makes the essence of Neverland real in Finding Neverland.
7 of 10
B+
NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Original Score” (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek); 6 nominations: “Best Picture” (Richard N. Gladstein and Nellie Bellflower), “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Johnny Depp), “Best Adapted Screenplay” (David Magee), “Best Art Direction” (Gemma Jackson-art director and Trisha Edwards-set decorator), “Best Costume Design” (Alexandra Byrne), and “Best Film Editing” (Matt Chesse)
2005 BAFTA Awards: 11 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film” (Music Jan A.P. Kaczmarek), “Best Cinematography” (Roberto Schaefer), “Best Costume Design’ (Alexandra Byrne), “Best Film” (Richard N. Gladstein and Nellie Bellflower), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Christine Blundell), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Johnny Depp), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Kate Winslet), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Julie Christie), “Best Production Design” (Gemma Jackson), “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (David Magee), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Marc Forster)
2005 Golden Globes: 5 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Marc Forster), “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Johnny Depp), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (David Magee)
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Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Paramount Pictures and Twitter Unite for "SUPER 8" Sneak Previews
PARAMOUNT AND TWITTER TEAM UP FOR FIRST-EVER ‘TWEET MOVIE SNEAK PREVIEW’ OF “SUPER 8” ON JUNE 9th
MOVIE FROM J.J. ABRAMS AND STEVEN SPIELBERG SET TO PLAY ON OVER 300 IMAX® AND OTHER SELECT PREMIUM SCREENS ACROSS THE COUNTRY ONE DAY AHEAD OF ITS NATIONWIDE RELEASE
HOLLYWOOD, CA (June 8, 2011) – Paramount Pictures and Twitter jointly announced today sneak preview showings of the movie SUPER 8 for 1-day only on Thursday, June 9th, in advance of the film’s scheduled nationwide release on Friday, June 10th. To promote the sneak previews, the companies have designated the hashtag #Super8Secret, which Paramount has also sponsored as a Promoted Trend, allowing Twitter’s global user base a direct link to buy tickets to the advanced previews. At select, participating theatres in the United States, Super 8 Sneak Preview moviegoers will be treated to a free popcorn (with a concession purchase) at each sneak preview show. Hosting movie sneak previews marks a first for Twitter. This promotion continues a key partnership between Paramount and Twitter on SUPER 8. The duo joined forces in March for the movie’s exclusive trailer premiere via Twitter, another exciting first for the site.
SUPER 8, from writer/director J.J. Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg, will open exclusively tomorrow, June 9th, on over 300 screens nationwide, featuring all 239 IMAX playdates in the U.S. and Canada. Fans can go to http://www.Twitter.com/Super8Movie and use #Super8Secret to share information about the movie with friends. To be among the first to see SUPER 8, visit http://www.Super8-Movie.com/Sneak for tickets and show times.
“With SUPER 8, J.J. and Steven have created a really fun and engaging movie for all ages,” said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures. “We are excited to finally get it out into the marketplace and using this sneak preview promotion with Twitter to kick start the film’s release, is an unprecedented way to get people into theaters and talking about the movie.”
"Twitter is how we hear about new movies and share our tiny reviews before the credits finish rolling," said Biz Stone, Twitter cofounder. "There are already millions of people talking about SUPER 8 on Twitter and Paramount gets that. Creating more excitement about the film with sneak previews and free popcorn is a smart way to make this film a global conversation even before it’s released."
“Twitter has the incredible capability of spreading buzz in real-time, as well as fostering communal conversations that encapsulate large audiences in a matter of seconds. We believe these elements are key in promoting a movie like SUPER 8 that has such incredible playability and the potential for unlimited positive word of mouth,” said Amy Powell, Paramount’s Executive Vice President, Interactive Marketing Strategies & Film Production.
SUPER 8 is an Amblin Entertainment / Bad Robot production, directed by Abrams from his original script and produced by Steven Spielberg, Abrams and Bryan Burk. The film stars Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Gabriel Basso, Noah Emmerich, Ron Eldard, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee and Zach Mills. The movie takes place in the summer of 1979, where a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth - something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.
For more information, go to http://www.super8-movie.com/.
Follow Super 8 on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/Super8Movie. #Super8Secret
Like us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/Super8Movie.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Paramount Television & Digital Distribution.
MOVIE FROM J.J. ABRAMS AND STEVEN SPIELBERG SET TO PLAY ON OVER 300 IMAX® AND OTHER SELECT PREMIUM SCREENS ACROSS THE COUNTRY ONE DAY AHEAD OF ITS NATIONWIDE RELEASE
HOLLYWOOD, CA (June 8, 2011) – Paramount Pictures and Twitter jointly announced today sneak preview showings of the movie SUPER 8 for 1-day only on Thursday, June 9th, in advance of the film’s scheduled nationwide release on Friday, June 10th. To promote the sneak previews, the companies have designated the hashtag #Super8Secret, which Paramount has also sponsored as a Promoted Trend, allowing Twitter’s global user base a direct link to buy tickets to the advanced previews. At select, participating theatres in the United States, Super 8 Sneak Preview moviegoers will be treated to a free popcorn (with a concession purchase) at each sneak preview show. Hosting movie sneak previews marks a first for Twitter. This promotion continues a key partnership between Paramount and Twitter on SUPER 8. The duo joined forces in March for the movie’s exclusive trailer premiere via Twitter, another exciting first for the site.
SUPER 8, from writer/director J.J. Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg, will open exclusively tomorrow, June 9th, on over 300 screens nationwide, featuring all 239 IMAX playdates in the U.S. and Canada. Fans can go to http://www.Twitter.com/Super8Movie and use #Super8Secret to share information about the movie with friends. To be among the first to see SUPER 8, visit http://www.Super8-Movie.com/Sneak for tickets and show times.
“With SUPER 8, J.J. and Steven have created a really fun and engaging movie for all ages,” said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures. “We are excited to finally get it out into the marketplace and using this sneak preview promotion with Twitter to kick start the film’s release, is an unprecedented way to get people into theaters and talking about the movie.”
"Twitter is how we hear about new movies and share our tiny reviews before the credits finish rolling," said Biz Stone, Twitter cofounder. "There are already millions of people talking about SUPER 8 on Twitter and Paramount gets that. Creating more excitement about the film with sneak previews and free popcorn is a smart way to make this film a global conversation even before it’s released."
“Twitter has the incredible capability of spreading buzz in real-time, as well as fostering communal conversations that encapsulate large audiences in a matter of seconds. We believe these elements are key in promoting a movie like SUPER 8 that has such incredible playability and the potential for unlimited positive word of mouth,” said Amy Powell, Paramount’s Executive Vice President, Interactive Marketing Strategies & Film Production.
SUPER 8 is an Amblin Entertainment / Bad Robot production, directed by Abrams from his original script and produced by Steven Spielberg, Abrams and Bryan Burk. The film stars Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Gabriel Basso, Noah Emmerich, Ron Eldard, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee and Zach Mills. The movie takes place in the summer of 1979, where a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth - something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.
For more information, go to http://www.super8-movie.com/.
Follow Super 8 on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/Super8Movie. #Super8Secret
Like us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/Super8Movie.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Paramount Television & Digital Distribution.
"The Green Hornet" Stings Like a B-Movie
The Green Hornet (2011)
Running time: 119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of violent action, language, sensuality and drug content
DIRECTOR: Michel Gondry
WRITERS: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (based on the radio series “The Green Hornet” George W. Trendle)
PRODUCER: Neal H. Moritz
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Schwartzman
EDITOR: Michael Tronick
COMPOSER: James Newton Howard
SUPERHERO/ACTION/CRIME
Starring: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Tom Wilkinson, Christoph Waltz, David Harbour, Edward James Olmos, Jamie Harris, Chad Coleman, and Edward Furlong
A masked vigilante, crime-fighter, and superhero, the Green Hornet is a fictional character that first made his debut on radio in 1936. Created by radio station owner George W. Trendle and radio writer Fran Striker, the Green Hornet has also appeared over the years in comic books and movie serials. There was even a 1960s ABC television series probably best remembered for Bruce Lee playing the Green Hornet’s partner/sidekick, Kato.
Released in January 2011, The Green Hornet returned the character to the big screen in an over-the-top, superhero action-comedy movie. The movie is like a juvenile boy’s fantasy of what a superhero movie should have: plenty of explosions, numerous car-crushing car chases, and lots of gunfire, with a pretty girl thrown in for an occasional shot of eye candy. And sometimes, this movie is actually fun and entertaining.
The Green Hornet opens in present day Los Angeles and focuses on spoiled, rich, 20-something, Britt Reid (Seth Rogen). His father is James Reid (Tom Wilkinson), the wealthy and highly successful publisher of The Daily Sentinel newspaper. After James’ sudden death, Britt is trying to figure out what to do with his father’s business and his own life when he meets his father’s personal mechanic, Kato (Jay Chou). They hit it off, get drunk together, and pull a stupid stunt. It is that dangerous stunt that gives Britt the idea that he and Kato should become superheroes.
Britt believes that they should become crime-fighters who pose as criminals in order to infiltrate L.A.’s notoriously violent criminal underworld, so he becomes a masked man named the Green Hornet. Britt also decides to use the Sentinel to publish propaganda that will build up the Hornet’s reputation. Britt even hires Lenore “Casey” Case (Cameron Diaz), a sexy secretary to do criminal research that he can use as the Hornet. However, Britt’s activities as the Hornet bring him into direct conflict with Russian super bad-ass, Benjamin Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz), a mobster who wants to control all crime in L.A. But Chudnofsky is willing to kill anyone and any hero who gets in his way.
One of the things that immediately stood out to me about The Green Hornet was that Seth Rogen was probably not the right actor to play the Green Hornet. I could believe in him as the spoiled, party boy, Britt Reid, but not as any kind of superhero or masked crime-fighter. I spent the rest of the movie going back and forth on my feelings about Rogen. That’s the problem with this movie. Some of it works, and some of it is lazy and sloppy; even some of the stuff that works sometimes falls flat.
Rogen co-wrote this film with his partner, Evan Goldberg; the two wrote an incredible script for the film Superbad, a film that flowed seamlessly. The Green Hornet isn’t seamless. You can practically see all the giant, noisy set pieces sewn together to create this Frankenstein of an action-comedy. The problem isn’t that some of this movie is over-the-top; it is that The Green Hornet is nothing but over-the-top. There is rarely a moment of this movie that isn’t about violence and vulgarity and assorted rudeness.
I have to give credit where credit is due. While the film wastes Cameron Diaz and her good character, Lenore, it makes the most of Christoph Waltz’s cold-bloodied turn as the really scary Chudnofsky. [It’s best that we not speak of how the filmmakers under-utilized Edward James Olmos]. The film also has a genuine star in Taiwanese pop idol Jay Chou as Kato.
For some reason, Chou actually has good screen chemistry with Rogen, or at least I think so. When they are together as the Green Hornet and Kato, Rogen and Chou take control of the hysteria and bombast. That is why, here and there, The Green Hornet is more action-comedy dynamite than it is film flatulence.
5 of 10
B-
Monday, June 06, 2011
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