Wow

So Kevin doesn't like Michael Cera, to tell you the truth I am not much of a fan either. However, I just saw the trailer for Paper Heart and although he looks like he is playing his same dull part. The movie seems like the one of the most inventive and moving projects to hit theaters in at least a few years. You be the judge



....and yes that is the weird Asian from Knocked Up

The 10 Most Anticipated Summer Movies of 2009

It's time to take out the popcorn and just sit back and enjoy big budget mindless entertainment. The only problem is that this summer has got alot of life in it. What is going on? I don't want to think about movies! I want to just mindlessly laugh at fart jokes. But becuase Fatties Fart 3 isn't going to be released just yet. I guess I could settle for some deep and enjoyable entertainment. Here are the movies I am looking forward to the most.

500 Days of Summer

Kevin addressed his excitement for both this movie and the next one in a previous article but I figured I would give the two some more attention. This looks very much like a Woody Allen style movie. It’s not a love story but a story about love and It begins from the end of the relationship. I love movies like this and I feel that this is one that has its own style. The two leads, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are also magnificent on their own so I can’t see any harm in them being put together.

Away We Go

Sam Mendes fresh from his artistic and dark look at marriage, Revolutionary Road, has decided to take many risks. He has gone to a more independent and lighter film than his usual subject matter. He has taken on a cast of mainly NBC Comedy stars and comedians themselves. The result: Is unknown at this point but it looks absolutely charming. The actors look like they are on their A-game and Sam Mendes looks as if he will not disappoint. People have been in an uproar about the graphics from the trailer and poster being like that of Juno. But first of all, Didn’t people like Juno? And second of all, if we were to judge a movie by the poster and trailer than Pearl Harbor would be a great movie and we all know that isn’t true.

The Boat that Rocked

The early reviews of this Richard Curtis film haven’t been too positive but I still am interested. You take a great cast saying dialogue from a great writer and put them on a ship with many women and have them play rock music. I can’t see that being anything less than enjoyable.

The Brothers Bloom

I have already shared my excitement about this film but it really does look great. You can never go wrong with a con film, especially one that is done by Rian Johnson

Funny People

This one people may tend to disagree with but I still think this could be one of the best from Apatow. Adam Sandler has some acting chops. He doesn’t show them off often but Reign over Me and Punch Drunk Love have shown off some fine work by the comedian. Seth Rogen is very versatile and can play any role. The bottom line is Judd Apatow may be starting to turn a corner into dramedy which is something I’m sure a lot of people want to see. Not to say he isn’t the king of comedy but I think that most comedic minds have the potential to make some good drama.

Public Enemies

I have also talked about my excitement for this one. The new trailer just makes this look even better and if Michael Mann can deliver, which I have faith in, then this can be some cinematic summer gold that really belongs in the fall season of movies.

Taking Woodstock

Ang Lee is a great director that has already shown his versatility. Whether it be two lovers fighting in bamboo trees or two cowboys loving in pine trees, he knows how to make a deep movie. His next movie will involve a lot of characters smoking trees in Taking Woodstock. I wouldn’t have expected this to be Demetri Martin’s premier movie but it is a very interesting idea regardless, where Demetri Martin plays the man who owns the property where Woodstock takes place. I have always been interested in the hippies and movies about them so expect me to be in line for this one regardless of the director and star.

Terminator Salvation

This is one of the few action movies I have up here and I am somewhat unsteady about the director, McG making anything good but Christian Bale has failed to disappoint and with the exception of the third movie, neither has the terminator series. I suppose this one is a toss-up but it will definitely be enjoyable.

Up

The trailer had me laughing the whole way through. Pixar has never let me down. (Yes I even liked Cars, believe it or not).

Year One

Regardless of Kevin’s feelings toward Michael Cera, I feel that Jack Black is a very underrated comedian who can do a real good job with what he’s got. This movie reminds me of History of the World Part I and for that reason alone, I am going to see it. Let’s just hope it does its own thing and doesn’t copy Mel Brooks.

Honorable Mention: Inglorious Basterds
When I heard the director, the cast, and the idea for this movie I was totally on board. But the trailer did not excite me as much as I hoped it would. I would hope that Quentin will deliver like he often does and that I was wrong to put this movie in Honorable Mention.

Why Paul Dano is going to be the greatest...

Paul Dano is making all the right moves in his career. In my opinion it should be only a few more roles before he is raking in the Oscar hardware by the bushel. You could say he sewed his wild oats young by appearing in The Emperors Club (a Dead Poets Society knockoff...with civ) and The Girl Next Door. But since 2005 he has been acting his ass off and hasn't looked back. He was in The Ballad of Jack and Rose opposite one Daniel Day Lewis in 2005. 2006 saw LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE...ahem sorry I just love that movie. And the star studded Fast Food Nation. 2008? 2008 showed us he best acting yet in There Will be Blood. Just when you think he has tapped out for a little while he is coming back with two stellar looking movies in 2009. One comedy (Gigantic) and one Drama (Explicit Ills) both look like they could make the top ten list of movies this year.
What is best about Paul Dano is that he can actually act. Seeing him in movies he is able to avoid the typecasting that he could have easily fallen into. He is different in each role and seems to be able to pick good roles that he actually wants to do. The best of luck to you Mr. Dano.

...and Michael Cera will not

Juno, Superbad, Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist. What do these three movies have in common? If you said Michael Cera stars in all of them, give yourself a pat on the back or a star or something. Now what else do they all have in common? Cera is the same character in every movie. I'm sorry to everyone out there who loves this guy but he is virtually a carbon copy of himself in every movie. He hasn't changed since his days at Arrested Development. Now you may be saing Kevin he doesn't change because he doesn't have to! He is great as a comedic straight man and he compliments Jonah Hill and Seth Rogan beautifully! True he can do that quite well, but I can just watch Superbad on DVD now instead of seeing the same preformance in different clothes in the movie theater. I guess what has me so mad is his new movie Year One. He plays a caveman in it. I'm thinking ok yeah finally he will have to at least change his voice a little with some grunts right? The answer is a resounding WRONG. IT'S PAULIE BLEEKER WITH A LOINCLOTH. Take a look for yourself. And Mike? If you read this, take a challenging role. Do something where you don't sound like the same person. Or just fire your agent. Please.

The Arcade Fire in Trailers

The trailer for Where the Wild Things Are came out a few weeks ago. It is unquestionably the best trailer of the year and if the trailer is any indication the movie will be one of the best of the year. I was racking my brain as to the appeal of the trailer. There is so much to love in it. The moving and emotional images. The flat out amazing portrayal of the monsters. But I think what I love the most is that all of the images are blended seemlessly to the tune of the song "Wake Up" by The Arcade Fire, which managed to pack an emotional punch.



This isn't the first time that The Arcade Fire was used for a trailer. I felt that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was an okay movie that had its flaws, but the movie looked like an absolute masterpiece when this TV spot was released which included scene from the movie shown to the tune of "My Body is a Cage" by The Arcade Fire.



This could be a lesson learned that if you want a movie to look good then it may be wise to throw The Arcade Fire on with some of it's clips and you got yourself a masterpiece. I do have tremendous faith in Where the Wild Things Are. It has taken the place of Public Enemies as my most anticipated film of 2009.

I've always liked Sam Rockwell

This movie looks like a breakthrough for my boy Sam. He was darkly humerous in Choke and amazing in The Assassination of Jesse James. The movie seems like an interesting concept but it seems like the typical sci-fi bullshit. I can seem Sam doing alot with this movie though. Watch out for him.

Rian is back!

....granted, he never left. His last movie was only three years ago, but in this funny little town called hollywood, when you're gone for three years, you tend to be gone for a while. His last film was Brick, which he wrote and directed. An exceptional and ingenious mystery, Rian Johnson took an unusual risk by taking a mature and interesting dialogue of a film noir and put it in the setting of a high school murder. The plot is simple: A loner student attempts to solve the mystery of his ex-girlfriend's murder and undercovers a high school underground drug ring. But the dialogue is rich, the filming provides a great deal of tension, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's performance is a solid invesment into the character. Bottom line is, that Rian Johnson made a splash in the indie world with his sleeper hit.

His next movie is The Brothers Bloom, a con movie with a well known A-List cast.



It seems like a much different movie than Brick. While Brick was a dark comedy this movie is alot more light. I personally am not quite sure about the movie but it does seem very promising. Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo seem to have amazing chemistry together. While Rinko Kikuchi seems to have created a character that is both sexy and comedic. The writing seems to be clever in a lighter sense then Brick so although the movie may be different, I hope it will have the same impact.

Ron Weasley is growing up

Daniel Radcliffe is in a play where he's naked with a horse. Emma Watson had a bathtub scene in Ballet Shoes and now Rupet Grint is in the movie Cherrybomb. The film is about three teenagers involved in drugs and crime. The last Harry Potter movie won't be released until 2011 but these three teenagers want to shed their children's book characters and show that they have some serious acting chops. The movies have helped all three actors. The movies grow darker and so do their characters, but now they want to show they can do other projects besides Harry Potter. Emma and Daniel already proved it but I was waiting for Ron to make his mark. Well it seems that he has from this trailer....



I think I need to see a little bit more footage but it looks like a pretty interesting movie and I want to see if Rupert can move past Ron. I have faith in him

The Oscar Beard

Earlier in the week, Kevin mentioned some of the movies that are coming out this summer, which are indie flicks. There is one that is standing out in my mind more than any other for the summer and that is Sam Mendes’ next project, Away We Go. About an expecting couple (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) that travel to find where they belong. This film stands out for me, for several reasons. One of them could be my love for Sam Mendes projects or it could be the interesting and somewhat risky casting choices. It could even possibly be that I just want to finally see a movie that doesn’t depress the shit out of me. However, one thing that excites me about this movie is it’s utilization of one of Hollywood’s most affective and unknown tricks: the Oscar Beard.

For several years actors have changed their facial hair in an attempt to possibly be viewed as more serious. The Oscar Beard is grown out by actors not just so they could win awards but showing they would like to be viewed as more serious, or more prestigious. It marks that the actor is doing something different. Even if he/she is playing the same god damn role, it still seems as if they are doing something different. It can be viewed as purely an Indie movie thing but mainstream players sometimes do this in mainstream movies as well.

Sometimes the actors don’t grow the beard for the sake of Awards or respect in Hollywood because they have already garnered both. Body of Lies was a movie where both Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio went through physical changes. Leonardo DiCaprio grew out a beard that was extremely long and extremely unattractive. He wanted to stray from looking good in this movie because he was trying to display a rough and course field agent instead of his typical role of attractive guy. I normally appreciate DiCaprio’s work and although I wasn’t a fan of his work in this movie. I truly admire his choice in the Oscar Beard.

The Oscar Beard doesn’t always end in success on the awards front but it does do well in regards to garnering respect. Steve Carrel was always thought of as just some fake news anchor underneath Jon Stewart until he came into his own on The Office. But even then he never really received much respect from Hollywood. Until he grew out a beard for Little Miss Sunshine, I personally think his performance was wonderful and so did many others. Was it because of the beard? The world may never know. We could just ask Paul Giamatti who grew a beard for Sideways and was robbed, some people (including me) believe criminally, from even an Oscar nomination, but he still made some ripples playing the depressed wine connoisseur. However, a year later he shaves the beard and lands an Oscar nomination for Cinderella Man. Some could make this an argument against the Oscar beard…but would he have even gotten that role if it wasn’t for his stubble in Sideways? Think about that.

Ryan Gosling jumped into the indie world full blast with Half Nelson, a fantastic movie with a heartbreaking performance from a supremely gifted young actor. The beard might have nothing to do with this one but he happened to be donning one when he received an Oscar nomination for his work. Through this performance (and possibly because of the beard) he has made a name for himself from the goofy kid in Remember the Titans, to the heartthrob of The Notebook, to a serious actor that will be going places in the future.

The Oscar Beard can sometimes be an epic failure and not becuase of the beard but becuase of the downright shitty performance. In this case, it doesn't matter if the actor wears a beard or not but he does look more pathetic with the beard becuase you recognize his failure at trying to become a serious actor is more recognizable. The most prominent example is Dane Cook in Mr. Brooks. An actor that is way too much of an amateur to handle drama in a movie that was grossly mis-cast and far from perfect.

The two most famous Oscar Beards were worn by people that have already made big names for themselves in Hollywood. Robin Williams was regarded as a successful comedian for many years before Good Will Hunting. He was even given several different nominations for past comedic roles. But he went serious, by growing a beard and playing a more subdued and beautiful character then his typical persona. The role, performance, and beard won him the Oscar for best supporting actor. George Clooney was already voted the sexiest man alive before he won his Oscar and had quite a bit of star power under him with already several movies under his belt. But it was when he wore the beard in Syriana that he received his Oscar for best supporting actor nine years later, which shows that the academy still loves when actors grow facial hair.

We cannot give all credit to the beard. Many of these performances are actually rather good and deserve recognition. I even think that John Krasinki, someone that normally doesn’t wow me, looks like he is going to deliver. But perhaps the reason they are given attention is because the actor looks slightly different and therefore we pay more attention to that performance. So while the beard isn’t the performance, it sure illuminates it.