This week gives us a chic, Oscar-nominated animated feature from France and a boisterous musical based on a low-budget cult horror-comedy with a plot point in common: Both films include homages to giant monsters rampaging through urban areas — evidence that there’s often a thin line that separates High from Low.
HIGH: A Cat in Paris (Cinedigm/$29.95 DVD; $39.95 DVD/Blu-Ray combo)
Who’s Responsible: Written by Alain Gagnol and Jacques Rémy-Girerd; directed by Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli; features the voices of Marcia Gay Harden, Anjelica Huston and Matthew Modine.
What’s It All About: Black cat Dino shuttles between two owners who aren’t aware of each other. He spends his days with Zoë, a young girl who’s been mute since the recent death of her gendarme father at the hand of notorious criminal Victor Costa (voiced by JB Blanc). At night, he slinks about the rooftops of the City of Lights alongside a burglar named Nico (Modine). Both of Dino’s companions will collide when Costa crosses Nico’s path — with Zoë’s police detective mother Jeanne (Harden) in hot pursuit.
Why It’s Schmancy: The extraordinary advancements in computer-generated animation over the last few decades may now make it possible to realistically render every last hair on a Yeti, but there’s still room for old-fashioned illustration that calls to mind the artwork of beloved children’s stories. Kids, and adults even, should not live on Pixar alone (much less those crappy Ice Age movies), so mix things up with this gorgeous and eccentrically animated film, which earned a Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination this year. (Plus, you know, the movie is French and set in Paris, which automatically makes things more ra-sha-sha.)
Why You Should Buy It: Both hardcore animation fans and kids with a penchant for drawing will enjoy the Many Lives of a…
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Also in Wednesday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Ray Liotta and Ashely Judd begin work on a musical family pic. Jake Gyllenhaal is joining a new project with Hugh Jackman. A new family drama is heading to U.S. theaters. And some quick highlights from Asia’s annual Busan International Film Festival.
Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd, Seth Green, Joe Pantoliano Lead Cast of The Identical
Set in Nashville, the film follows the path of a musical family from the Be Bop 1950s through the Glam Rock 1970s. Music video award winner Dustin Marcellino will direct the film. Film locations include Music City’s famed Grand Ole Opry House and War Memorial Auditorium.
Family Weekend Heads to U.S. Theaters
Starring Kristin Chenoweth, Matthew Modine and Olesya Rulin, the film follows 16-year-old Emily Smith-Dungy an incredibly motivated, overachiever, who has grown increasingly frustrated with her parents’ lack of support and guidance. Her mom, Samantha, is a career-focused, no-nonsense, high-powered business executive. Her dad, Duncan, is a happy go-lucky artist who can’t be bothered to earn a paycheck. When they miss their daughter’s big jump-roping competition, Emily hits her breaking point and takes it upon herself to restore order in the home. Arc Entertainment took rights to the film. No theatrical date has been set.
Around the ‘net…
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 1st Day Advance Sales Topping Part 1
Tickets for the final Twilight installment went on sale Monday and grosses are 87% higher for the final pic, which opens November 16th. One-quarter of all tickets sold Monday were from fans buying tickets for The Twilight Saga Marathon, which allows moviegoers to see all of the films in the franchise November 15th before the release of the final feature the next day, Deadline
Teenage Ansiedad (Cierra Ramirez) is lacking in role models. Her father’s unknown, her best friend (Raini Rodriguez) is faithful but a little dull, and her mother Grace (Eva Mendes) is a hotcha-cha mess who dates married dudes and behaves less like a mom than a deadbeat roommate. So when her English teacher (Patricia Arquette, vital in a too-brief role) introduces the concept of the coming-of-age narrative, hyper-precocious Ansiedad decides to use it as a kind of emancipation blueprint.
Directed by Patricia Riggen (Under the Same Moon), Girl In Progress starts out breezy, making wacky archetypes of the overachieving latchkey kid and her appallingly irresponsible mom. Odd-jobbing Grace shrugs about finishing the cereal (and the milk) and forgets about her child’s existence whenever her current philandering squeeze (Matthew Modine) swings into view. Ansiedad resolves to apply her discipline to a teenaged trajectory so clichéd that it’s easily converted into a giant flow chart on her bedroom wall. I got a little ahead of the script (by Hiram Martinez) when Ansiedad has her light bulb moment in English class, thinking perhaps the daughter might use a set of literary conventions to finally midwife her mother into adulthood.
Instead the narrative splits off into parallel parts, similar to the way Riggen divided Under the Same Moon between the story of a Mexican woman laboring as a Los Angeles housekeeper and that of her son’s journey from Mexico to find her. Ansiedad begins acting out her acting out, ticking off bullet points (ditch your old friends; infiltrate the cool circle; offer the alpha babe your virginity) like items on a grocery list. Were the conceit a little more genre- or source material-specific — if the picture followed some overarching inspiration the way Clueless played on Emma, say, or if it featured some…
Full Story »Co-star Matthew Modine, promoting his short Jesus Was A Commie, explained why the notion to film the megabudget blockbuster at Occupy Wall Street was scrapped. “The wisdom of Christopher Nolan and his incredible team was that, while it seemed like a good idea to give [the protestors] an opportunity for work, to give them money, it would send a terrible message. At the end of the day, we’re making a movie. What’s happening down there is more important than that. To co-opt what’s happening there and around the country… we didn’t want to trivialize it. It was more important to respect what they’re doing than to do anything that could potentially trivialize the political situation downtown.” [indieWIRE]
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I notice something suspicious about the two genres in which Taylor Lautner has made a name for himself: He’s wrong for both of them. As an actor, he’s too stilted for leading romantic roles (a la Eclipse, or even Valentine’s Day), and he’s too unassuming for leading action roles (as in the new Abduction, where he narrowly avoids poking himself in the eye). Quite the conundrum. Even if his shirt-losing prowess is second to none, is it possible that Mr. Lautner hasn’t yet discovered the subgenres best suited to his skills? I say yes! Here, Movieline looks into three new arenas for the budding thespian, who undoubtedly does not want to be known as the junior edition of the oversold Sam Worthington.
Sports
When the rumor broke of Lautner’s involvement with a Vision Quest remake, I needed to organize my thoughts in a three-ring binder. First of all: Vision Quest? The Matthew Modine wrestling movie remembered mostly for Madonna’s cameo? The idea seemed contrived at first, but upon second thought I realized Vision Quest is the perfect cross-section of melodrama and surprisingly compelling athleticism. If Lautner can’t exercise his karate comprehension at the cineplex, I hope he dons the singlet, sharpens his Varsity grimace, and engages in neatly choreographed warfare on the mat. He may even capture the angst (and technical skill) of a young brawler better than this year’s other wrestling wunderkind, Win Win’s Alex Shaffer.
Comic book ensembles
Sure, a comic book ensemble featuring Lautner may have to be a youth-plumbing Origins tale, but I’d sooner trust him as a member of a cartoonish fighting squad than…
Also in this Tuesday edition of The Broadsheet: Tim Burton has an update on Dark Shadows… Alice Braga headed to Elysium… Kung Fu Panda 2 breaks one box office record… and more ahead.
· Because you can never have enough villains fighting Batman, rumor has it that recently cast Matthew Modine may play a heavy in The Dark Knight Rises alongside Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (assuming those latter two are playing baddies). Late last week, gossiper Roger Friedman reported that Modine is set to star as Nixon, “a politician and a key villain.” Little else is known about the character, but add your speculative thoughts about what this means for Bruce Wayne in the comments below. [Showbiz411 via /Film]
· Good news, 3D haters: Tim Burton isn’t planning on giving Dark Shadows an extra dimension. “There’s people like, ‘Everything’s gonna be in 3D,’ or ‘I hate 3D!’” Burton told TheWrap. “I think people should have a choice. I don’t think it should be forced on anybody. At the same time, it’s great, some of it. It’s like ‘Yes or no!? 3D! Yes or no?!’ It’s like, well, you know, come on, whatever, some yes, some no.” The Johnny Depp-led film arrives in theaters next May. [Wrap]
· Alice Braga (Predators, I Am Legend) has joined the cast of Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 follow-up, Elysium. Matt Damon and Jodie Foster co-star; the film is set for release on March 1, 2013. [Deadline]
· Kung Fu Panda 2 may have slightly disappointed at the box office over Memorial Day weekend,…
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Also in this Monday edition of The Broadsheet: Emma Roberts and Ari Graynor join Celeste and Jesse Forever… The Dark Knight Rises adds three more cast members… the first review of X-Men: First Class is strong… and more ahead.
· Did you watch the double secret probation post-credits scene in Thor and think, “That doesn’t look like Kenneth Branagh’s work”? Turns out you were right. According to — spoiler alert — Stellan Skarsgard, who features in the secret scene, it was actually directed by Joss Whedon. Skarsgard told Empire that he’ll appear in The Avengers for Whedon next summer, but couldn’t elaborate further. “I know what’s going to happen to my character in that film, but I’m not allowed to say anything. I’ll have to sell my house to pay the fines for that.” [Empire]
· The Rashida Jones-penned Celeste and Jesse Forever continues to get more awesome. The indie — about a couple (Jones and Andy Samberg) who get divorced but try to remain friends — has added Emma Roberts, Ari Graynor and Chris Messina to its cast. It’s the Monogamy reunion you’ve been waiting for! Also, Graynor 4eva! [Variety]
· Speaking of casting: Christopher Nolan just keeps hiring people for The Dark Knight Rises. He’s added Matthew Modine, Tom Conti and youngster Joey Bell to the cast. Naturally, the nature of their roles is unknown, but perhaps they’ll get revealed via some convoluted viral marketing scheme. [Variety]
· If you think Ashton Kutcher is done with movies now that he’s signed up to star in Two and a Half Men, think again: The Wall Street Journal reports…
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