There is something of a theme to this edition of Trailer Trash: auteur-driven, indie-scale science fiction films that you might not be excited for but surely should be. There is though one obvious exception to this rule that I included because, well I had too; besides the existence of a new season of said show is strange enough to me that seeing the trailer almost felt like a glimpse into an alternate reality. Onwards.
Here, today, are three trailers that made me very happy; hilarious and heartfelt little pieces of film-making on their own right whose success bodes well for the features they are attached to. Given what a bad morning it is otherwise – Boston Marathon Massacre news, etc. – I figured it was best to share them. They are three very different films: a music-mockumentary, a feel good family comedy and a made for TV biopic but hopefully one of them puts a smile on your face like they did mine (Yeah, I can be that saccharine).
Here we are again, another Oscar night (or afternoon here in Australia). Over the past twelve months we have had a near-endless stream of sure thing winners -first Les Mis was likely to sweep, then people actually saw it, then Argo took top spot before the Academy snubbed Affleck, Zero Dark had the prestige, pedigree and publicity of a good Best Picture but as the hype died so too did its chances, Lincoln loomed large on name alone but delivered too little to live up to its original odds – and now, a few acting categories aside the awards could end up anywhere. There is time enough for one last set of twists and turns.
Overall though I think enough has already been said about the awards during this extensive lead-up – some of it by me. See: Oscar Nominations for my predictions and personal choices, if you wish- so I’ll leave this intro short, say that I currently have a little cash on Lincoln and Ang Lee to come from the outside and then get straight to the winners and weird events in the ceremony as they unfurl. Feel free to chime in with your own thoughts about both below. Ready? Just one hour to go.
The phenomenon that first came to light with the fourty-eight frames per second screenings of The Hobbit is one that also plagues this picture; the issue being that the footage is too real to relate too, too clear for the emotional claws of cinema to get a proper grasp, too reminiscent of a soap-opera to effectively convey its sense of style. The Why behind this troubling event is of course drastically different here than it was for The Hobbit; there it was an issue born from too much free time and spare money, here it is the opposite. Despite its arguably more all-star cast Roman Coppola’s second feature (not, as I had assumed, his directorial debut) comes across not only as cheap, but as a cheap imitation of his cinematic forebears; of those men he doesn’t just admire but has actively worked with, men like Wes Anderson and Spike Jonze. Fortunately then these are two great sets of footsteps to follow in, especially if the gait you take is a rather wonky one.
Though they may well be just as arbitrary and meaningless as all of the Top Ten lists we let out a month or so back there is still something fascinating about seeing who and what wins big during Awards season, and no win is bigger than an Oscar; the Academy’s nominations forming the primary list of pictures that people will see when they look back on our now. But why wait for prosperity? Let’s have a look at what they have chosen – for both politics and prestige – now… or after the jump.
I gave out some semi-honorable mentions in my previous post – HERE – which put forward my thought that this has been a relatively weak year for cinema, in so much as there is such a thing and so my Top Ten has been cut down to feature only five films. Here they are:
I think at this stage you probably all get the gist, that I am here to rank the best pictures released this year in an order of preference. It’s a simple premise really but one that I have always struggled with. In the past my issue has been a philosophical one, issuing pretentious ‘awards’ instead but this year I fully intended to line-up an actual list, so structure isn’t what’s stopping me. No, the problem is this: there simply weren’t enough films released this year that deserve the deification of Top Ten status; this isn’t a bell curve, simply coming out during a coarse year for cinema shouldn’t be enough to earn you earnest respect.
My solution is this: I will wrangle together a top five and leave the ‘others’ here to fend for themselves as ‘honorable mentions’ (though if you really want, if your OCD tendencies require it, then you can think of them as 6-11. Though given the nature of that number I doubt that this will help). I’ll link to my original review (in the cases where this is applicable) and quickly mention why the movie stuck with me enough to earn even this tenuously positive title. Enjoy?
“You know, I’m actually trying to read less.”
“Wha- why?”
“Well I really want to start watching more television.”
*They both laugh.*
This is only one of many jabs made at the boob tube throughout the largely tertiary Liberal Arts and as a devoted fan of the medium this should have been a bit that insulted me, that turned me off its characters (especially given the hypocrisy; the line was after all written by and read to Josh Radnor, star of TV’s own How I Met Your Mother) but within the context of the movie it mostly had the opposite effect. When you know them the line becomes more about the character’s love of books then their dislike of televised dredge and thus I laughed alongside them, falling a little further in love with this surprisingly pleasant little picture.
I have been thinking a lot lately about why it is that I write these reviews and also why people, peculiarly, take the time to read them. One obvious answer to the later is that they simply want to know whether or not a film/book/album or episode is good before they both buy and consume it, constricted as all our budgets are (both in terms of time and money). If that is the case for you, the question that you bring to each review, then know that the answer in this case is an unreserved yes; The Master is a masterful film, it is a masterclass in movie making, the work of people who have here all mastered their respective crafts and all those other puns that you would expect to find within the type of a textbook review. Sated you can now shut down this tab and move on with your lives; the rest of you though, those with more complex questions, should follow in further.
You know the drill by now; trailers and thoughts on and from the two films in the title to follow after the jump.
