2010s
In an article entitled “Why It’s Important to Make More Diverse LGBT Films,” fellow Film Inquiry writer Cherokee Seebalack lamented: “Where are all the LGBT romcoms at?” Where, indeed.
John Legend and Common’s powerful performance of Best Original Song nominee, “Glory,” and brave acceptance speech was one of the highlights of the Oscar ceremony last week. That song was a resonant soul/hip-hop combo that captured the atmosphere of its source film well: Ava DuVernay’s Selma, a historical drama about Martin Luther King and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
With the blockbuster success of Fifty Shades of Grey in cinemas worldwide, many pundits are claiming that this marks a new era for “sex positive” movies – and much more importantly, the basic idea of a woman being as sexually open as her male counterparts not being a source of cinematic shame, but one of pride. It has only been two decades since what I dub the “unofficial Michael Douglas misogyny trilogy” of Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct and Disclosure hit cinemas, films that (like Fifty Shades) were successful due to their frankness of sexuality. Yet those movies were inherently misogynist in suggesting that women were mentally unstable, or just plain evil for daring to be as open about their sexuality as men.
Fifty Shades Of Grey, it’s not often that so few words can spark so great a societal reaction. And to be honest, it is because of this very reason that I went to watch this film. I didn’t read the books, I didn’t care to.
“Our life is frittered away by detail…simplify, simplify.” The average life of the white collar worker is, from sunrise to sunset, an endless escapade of chores, professional obligations, and miscellaneous daily tasks, from the big decisions we have to make (college, job, spouse, etc.
It’s often stated that January and February are the two worst cinematic months of the year, as all of the major new releases are more often than not the terrible movies major studios have just “dumped” there. Yet it could easily be argued that the months leading up to the end of the year (“awards season” or “prestige season”, if you prefer to forget that Hollywood backslapping ceremonies exist) are equally bad. They do usually provide the year’s best movies, yet they also provide the kinds of movies that have been made cynically to get awards.
Into The Woods is a big screen adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical of the same name, adapted by the writer of the original musical book, James Lapine, and directed by Rob Marshall (of Chicago fame). The film boasts a number of successful actors in musical roles. When I first heard of the film, this was enough to pique my curiosity, but as the release date approached my enthusiasm for it lessened.
Known as an early work of naturalism, Miss Julie is a story of a Baron’s daughter who makes advances toward her family’s valet, Jean. One midsummer’s eve, tensions escalate between three characters: Miss Julie, Jean, and his fiance, Christine.
First, think of the most overused plot of an espionage action thriller. Throw in a young, rebellious kid who dares to walk in his father’s once-proud footsteps. Finally, mix in a cartoonish super-villian with unbelievable plans to destroy the world and a super-secret spy agency that is at their wit’s end in their attempts to stop him.
Over the course of a film spanning a mere two days, the Dardenne Brothers have demonstrated the fundamental characteristics of life, with all of its virtues and vices unabridged. Money as the root of all evil Two Days, One Night depicts the debacle of a Belgian woman named Sandra, who, after taking sick leave to battle depression, is laid off from her job; a decision voted on by her coworkers, who were forced to choose between her and their year-end bonuses. Through an altercation between the foreman, however, who intimidated a majority of the workers to vote against her, Sandra is given a second chance, which would be a re-vote on the following Monday.
Anna, a young woman on the verge of nunhood raised from the confines of a lonely convent discovers that her only living relative, Wanda, is a judge who abides by an irresponsible lifestyle of hedonism. These two very different personalities clash in Poland’s submission to the foreign film category of the Oscars, Ida. Anna and Wanda embark through the vestiges of Poland to locate the remains of Anna’s parents in order to give them a proper burial, a journey which becomes a heartfelt saunter that causes the pair to question their beliefs.
J.C. Chandor may be just starting out, but his film resume is already very impressive.
Let’s say Star Wars meets The Matrix. What comes to mind? An all-out intergalactic battle?
Why do we strive for greatness? What pushes someone to practice something over and over, until his hands bleed, until he perfects it? Can this intensity be brought out in all of us?
It is undeniable that the new millennium has seen fantasy novel adaptations reign supreme over Hollywood territory. It began in the year 2001 when the British again invaded America: now in the filmmaking industry.