Expect Twitter to explode shortly with reactions to the Sundance premiere of Gareth Evans’ The Raid, the Indonesian actioner that blew minds at Toronto but has been kept largely under wraps until now by Sony Classics, who smartly snatched up the pic and will distribute it this March. I caught The Raid last week at a pre-Sundance screening with its new score by composer Joe Trapanese and Mike Shinoda — yes, of Linkin Park — and can attest that the early praise was well-earned because holy crap, it’s amazing. Everything you’ve heard about it? True.
I know, I just got done ranting about film festival goggles and inflated pre-release hype. But being mindful of falling into that trap, I’ve thought a lot about The Raid in the days since, and it’s stuck. Not only that — it’s the rare film that I can’t wait to see again. I’ve described it by pointing to the famous one-take staircase fight in Tony Jaa’s The Protector: It prompts the kind of rush of that scene, only for the entire runtime.
Briefly, the simple premise of The Raid: SWAT agents in Jakarta, Indonesia, descend on an apartment building run by a local crime lord, only to find that the place is infested with criminals and the odds are stacked against them. The action emphasis is on gun battles and a form of martial arts called silat, which Evans previously used in his 2009 film Merantau, and to say the very least, it’s a brutal, stabby, bone-crunching kind of action pic.
Pairing Evans’ film with an electro-ish score by Trapanese and Shinoda works extremely well as their energies are well-matched, though I can’t say what the original score sounded like. Suffice to say it may be the best…
Full Story »Expect Twitter to explode shortly with reactions to the Sundance premiere of Gareth Evans’ The Raid, the Indonesian actioner that blew minds at Toronto but has been kept largely under wraps until now by Sony Classics, who smartly snatched up the pic and will distribute it this March. I caught The Raid last week at a pre-Sundance screening with its new score by Mike Shinoda — yes, of Linkin Park — and can attest that the early praise was well-earned because holy crap, it’s amazing. Everything you’ve heard about it? True.
I know, I just got done ranting about film festival goggles and inflated pre-release hype. But being mindful of falling into that trap, I’ve thought a lot about The Raid in the days since, and it’s stuck. Not only that — it’s the rare film that I can’t wait to see again. I’ve described it by pointing to the famous one-take staircase fight in Tony Jaa’s The Protector: It prompts the kind of rush of that scene, only for the entire runtime.
Briefly, the simple premise of The Raid: SWAT agents in Jakarta, Indonesia, descend on an apartment building run by a local crime lord, only to find that the place is infested with criminals and the odds are stacked against them. The action emphasis is on gun battles and a form of martial arts called silat, which Evans previously used in his 2009 film Merantau, and to say the very least, it’s a brutal, stabby, bone-crunching kind of action pic.
Pairing Evans’ film with a new electro-ish score by Shinoda works extremely well as their energies are well-matched, though I can’t say what the original score sounded like. Suffice to say it may be the best thing to come of Linkin…
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Never one to let inhibitions stand in the way of a great creative opportunity, Emily Watson put aside her equinophobia for a while to join up with Steven Spielberg’s new War Horse. Along the way, she also got to know the film’s irrepressible goose, its neophyte leading man and its legendary filmmaker’s one-of-a-kind facility with epic storytelling. Watson explained more recently in a chat with Movieline.
I don’t know about you, but I am War Horse-d out,
Can we talk about something else?
What else is going on?
What else is going on?
I was interested in a comment you made in the press conference about how everyone on a set should have a T-shirt that says, “It’s not about you.” Can you elaborate on that?
I just mean that as a storyteller, when you get out of the way, that’s when the magic starts. If you’re paranoid about your performance or your status or how you look, or if there’s something stopping you from giving yourself over to a story? Actors, directors, cameramen — if everybody’s just there to tell the story, then you can get some great work.
And so it’s not about Spielberg on the set?
No, it’s not. He is one of those rare creatures who is compelled to tell stories. He’d be like a fish with no water — he’d be deprived of air if he wasn’t telling stories. Robert Altman was the same. Paul Thomas Anderson was the same. It’s like a muscle that has to be exercised. Everything he’s saying and everything he’s about is, “How can we best deliver this moment in time?” Now, everybody has a different way of doing that, but it’s all from the utter urgency of being a storyteller.
What about a guy like Lars von…
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With the year 2011 drawing to a close, the stars of Garry Marshall’s New Year’s Eve were a sentimental — and cheeky — bunch talking up the portmanteau rom-com recently in Los Angeles. “When I stopped wanting my New Year’s Eve to be perfect, to ring in the New Year right, is when it started working out right,” admitted Hilary Swank, seated at a podium about as long as the credit roll for the star-studded holiday pic. At the other end of the panel, Zac Efron faux-wooed co-star Michelle Pfeiffer. “You’re coming out with me this year,” he winked at her. “I’ll show you how we do it.”
Like the wide-ranging press conference itself, New Year’s Eve is jam-packed with an assortment of stars (Sarah Jessica Parker! Halle Berry! Yeardley Smith!) a la Valentine’s Day, director Marshall’s first effort in the holiday-themed ensemble franchise. Just try and guess which disparate plot threads will run into another as a host of New Yorkers from all walks of life (A bike messenger! A rock star! The lady in charge of dropping the ball at midnight!) despair, rejoice, and collide on the biggest night of the year.
The unifying theme, of course, is self-reflection and hope for the future, and the idea that on New Year’s Eve, everyone in the world is sharing the same experience. Even, it seems, Hollywood’s biggest stars. Read on to find out who’ll be watching the ball drop in their jammies just like you this year.
1. Worst. New Year’s Eve. Ever? (Or, how to have a better time with lowered expectations.)
The stars and filmmakers agree: Manage your expectations of the big night and you’ll be…
Even Bérénice Bejo acknowledges there’s not a lot left to say about The Artist, the heavily acclaimed silent-film throwback that has been on the awards (and thus the media) warpath since debuting at Cannes last May. But the Argentine-born, French-raised actress also knows full well what a good problem that is to have — even it means wondering how to follow up the role of a lifetime.
Written and directed by Bejo’s partner Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist features the 35-year-old actress as Peppy Miller, an upstart, unflappable young dancer whose chance encounter with silent-film icon George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) catapults her to the frontier of talkie stardom. As Peppy’s meteoric rise intersects with George’s precipitous collapse, the starlet invests herself increasingly in both the creative and romantic heritage of his fallen legend. Anchored in Peppy’s optimistic vision and resisted by George’s institutionalized vanity, their relationship mirrors the enduring conflict at the heart of Hollywood and sets up one of the more stirring screen climaxes of this or any year.
It’s not what you’d call a breakout role — not for an actress who’s been working in film and TV since 1993 (including opposite Heath Ledger in 2001’s A Knight’s Tale) — but it is undoubtedly a milestone among milestones. Movieline spoke with Bejo about The Artist, struggling with perception, and how to move on from Peppy Miller.
Am I the millionth journalist you’ve talked to since Cannes? Let’s get some balloons and confetti in here, maybe.
Yeah, I don’t know how many it’s been. I should start counting.
You know, I’ve asked both Michel and Jean if there’s…
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Movie director and shrimp-eating fapper, Brett Ratner, called into Howard Stern (via EW) yesterday to spit out a half-assed apology to GLAAD for saying “rehearsals is for fags” during a Q&A for Tower Heiest last week and he also admitted that he lied when he said that he “banged” Olivia Munn back when she wasn’t Asian. With the scent of curdled goat leche and shrimp shit wafting off of his finger tips, Brett picked up the phone and said this to Howard about Olivia:
“She’s actually talented. The problem is I made her look like she’s a whore.”
Brett kept backpedaling (unfortunately he didn’t backpedal off of a cliff) and gave GLAAD an “I’m Soooo SOWWY” hug for using the word fag.
“I apologize for any offense my remarks caused. It was a dumb way of expressing myself. Everyone who knows me knows that I don’t have a prejudiced bone in my body. But as a storyteller I should have been much more thoughtful about the power of language and my choice of words.”
Brett is producing the next Oscars and the president of that shit says that his comments were “dumb and insensitive” but “the apology [Ratner] gave I truly believe comes from his heart. If I didn’t believe it, I would do something about it. This is about
…
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