Pages

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Looking Ahead: The 2013 Movie Season

StarGazer



        It’s that time of the year again, folks! 2013 has entered its third month, and while some may already be sick of this calendar year (President Obama, prominent and respected athletes, dying rich people), for most of us, it feels like it’s just getting started. What better way to get excited for this year than to take a look at all the tasty cinematic treats lying in store for us? Spring looks like a barren wasteland as usual, but once you hit May (or even April, if you’re feeling optimistic), there should be a ton of awesome films coming your way. Because everyone on the planet probably already has the big blockbusters circled and bolded on their calendars (Star Trek Into Darkness and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug are my two personal must-sees), it seems only proper to shine a spotlight on some promising and intriguing movies that might not be on your radar yet:

Elysium
Release Date: August 9
Plot: According to IMDb, Matt Damon is a man on a mission for equality in a future (the year 2159, to be precise) where the wealthy now dwell in a space station, leaving the rest of humanity to live out their no-doubt miserable lives on a ruined Earth.
Why You Should Pay Attention: Okay, fine, this movie isn’t exactly going to sneak up on anyone, but it’s not as much of a sure-fire blockbuster juggernaut as, say, Iron Man 3 or Catching Fire, so it still seems worth mentioning here. Directed by Neill Blomkamp, whose first feature-length film District 9 was a surprise commercial hit and got a wholly deserved Best Picture nomination back in 2009, this sci-fi thriller sounds like it’ll be along the same lines. Hopefully, this means we can expect some gritty, gruesome action scenes, a decidedly realist/documentary-like filming style and an intelligent storyline that uses its high-concept premise as a parable for real-world, topical issues – in this case, the significant wealth gap in between the haves and have nots. It also gives us the immensely talented trio of Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and District 9 breakout Sharlto Copley. If Blomkamp’s second offering is as smart, original and entertaining as his first, then Elysium should be well worth the four year wait in between.

Besides, Matt Damon wouldn’t go bald for just any movie, right?

Closed Circuit
Release Date: August 28
Plot: Two lawyers, who just happen to be ex-lovers as well, find themselves in danger after joining the defense team for the trial of an international terrorist.
Why You Should Pay Attention: While that rather contrived premise is usually the sort of thing that makes me yawn or roll my eyes, there are a couple of reasons why I’m hopeful that this will be more than the mediocre, forgettable thriller suggested not only by the high-concept plot, but also the release date (after summer blockbuster season + before Oscar season = not encouraging). First of all, John Crowley is at the helm. In case you don’t know him, and you probably don’t, he’s the Irish director behind the idiosyncratic, darkly amusing Intermission as well as Boy A, the under-seen and utterly heartbreaking gem that put Andrew Garfield on the map. Though Closed Circuit will likely be more high-profile than either of those works, Crowley could make it work if he maintains his indie sensibilities and grounds the action in his characters, rather than the other way around – assuming, of course, that the script, written by Eastern Promises scribe Steven Knight, is any good. The second reason why I think – hope – this movie is worth keeping an eye on is the presence of Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall as the two leads. Both actors have a knack for choosing projects that fail to match their talents, but I’d love for this to be an exception and to see them get the great roles they deserve.    


Serena
Release Date: September 27
Plot: A married couple sets up a timber empire in Appalachia as America stands on the brink of the Depression.
Why You Should Pay Attention:  That plot synopsis likely won’t get anyone’s adrenaline pumping, but it’s based on an acclaimed, New York Times-bestselling novel by Ron Rash, directed by Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier (who won a Golden Globe in 2010 for her drama In a Better World) and involves the re-teaming of Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, whose on-screen romance in last year’s Silver Linings Playbook was surprising, electrifying and delightful to watch. It should be interesting to see how their dynamic translates to a very different setting and plot. Plus, Indiewire claims that Lawrence has “a killer role, landing somewhere between Lady Macbeth and Daniel Plainview”, which sounds like the most amazing thing ever. Something tells me we might not have to wait too long to see the newly-crowned Best Lead Actress winner back on the road to the Oscars.

Gravity
Release Date: October 4
Plot: After their shuttle crashes, stranding them in outer space, a pair of astronauts must find a way to get back to Earth.
Why You Should Pay Attention: I didn’t adore Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men the way seemingly everyone else on the planet did, but his follow-up, coming an incredible seven years later, sounds like a doozy. After being initially scheduled for a 2012 release, Gravity was pushed back eleven months, possibly due to the extra care required for the extensive special effects. It’s apparently a technical game changer, having been shot in 3D and combining live action and CGI elements a la Avatar, and could possibly be Cuarón’s masterpiece. Of course, ambitious sci-fi epics like this have a rather high risk of failure and often fail to live up to expectations (see: Cloud Atlas), but if buzz from early test screenings is anything to go by, then it seems like the delay will be worth it. As added bonuses, we might finally get a real dramatic showcase for Sandra Bullock, who is said to be alone for the majority of the movie, and the opening shot is allegedly almost twenty minutes long. If that doesn’t make you positively giddy with anticipation, then, well, you’re probably not as much of a film geek as I am and you should get the fuck out of here (just kidding, but seriously, long takes are awesome).

 I’m expecting some 2001-level shit here, Cuarón.
Anything less will be a total disappointment.


The Wolf of Wall Street
Release Date: November 15
Plot: Based on the memoirs of its protagonist, this based-on-real-life story centers on a Wall Street broker who was convicted of and spent 22 months in prison for securities fraud and money laundering in the 1990s. If that sounds a little too dry for you, just throw in some drug addiction, hookers and the mafia to spice things up.
Why You Should Pay Attention: Sure, most of his recent movies haven’t had quite the impact of classics like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull or Goodfellas, but Martin Scorsese remains arguably the greatest living filmmaker, a veritable cinematic treasure even as he approaches five decades in the business.  This time around, he’s bringing a tale seemingly destined for the big screen, reminiscent of such films as The Informant! and Wall Street with a dash of the more grounded side of American Psycho, and has assembled an expectedly talented, if overwhelmingly white male, cast. In addition to giving Leonardo DiCaprio yet another chance to make a run for Oscar gold after he got snubbed for Django Unchained (damn you, Christoph Waltz!), the movie will give us our first post-Oscar-win look at Jean Dujardin, hopefully proving that The Artist star can succeed in an actual speaking role and is more than a one-hit wonder. In terms of recent financial thrillers, a genre that has suddenly become rather prolific, The Wolf of Wall Street might not feel as urgent or relevant as, say, 2011’s top-notch Margin Call, but simply put, every Scorsese film is an event. There’s no reason to believe this will be any different.

Inside Llewyn Davis
Release Date: TBD
Plot: A singer-songwriter enters New York City’s folk music scene in the 1960s.
Why You Should Pay Attention: Though your interest in this may be dependent on whether or not you care for grassroots, Bob Dylan-type music, which is decidedly different from the Mumford & Sons/The Lumineers folk rock of today, even the Coen brothers’ misfires tend to be at least interesting and distinctive. After being absent for an uncharacteristically long three years, the filmmaking duo return with a flick that looks encouragingly intimate and personal, probably more along the lines of 2009’s A Serious Man than the rollicking 2010 Western True Grit. The cast features actors who are at just the right point between A-list fame and obscurity, including Oscar Isaac (who seemingly has been on the verge of stardom for a while now), Carey Mulligan in a part that looks refreshingly sharp and energetic compared to the ones she’s been getting since breaking out in An Education four years ago, the always-reliable John Goodman, promising up-and-comer Garrett Hedlund and Justin Timberlake, who will hopefully be more Alpha Dog or The Social Network than Bad Teacher or In Time. Plus, if that doesn’t convince you, then hopefully, this trailer, which finds the perfect mix of funny and melancholic, will.


 Help! I’ve fallen in love with this picture and I can’t get up.


Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
Release Date: TBD
Plot: An outlaw breaks out of prison and must cross Texas to reunite with his wife and a daughter he has never met.
Why You Should Pay Attention: Directed and written by unknown filmmaker David Lowery, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints was one of several movies to break out at this year’s surprisingly strong Sundance Film Festival in January, drawing mostly rave reviews and quickly getting picked up by distributor IFC Films, which is positioning the film for a possible awards season push. The movie has already drawn comparisons to Terrence Malick’s films, specifically Badlands, which will likely either make you instantly salivate or send you running as fast as you can in the opposite direction, depending on your taste. While I’m not the biggest Malick fan, the enthusiastic word-of-mouth alone is enough to make me jittery with anticipation, and as a film obsessive, there are few things I enjoy more than discovering a new cinematic talent. What’s more, Lowery has gathered a fantastic cast, headlined by Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara and Ben Foster, for the film, which is supposedly an elegiac and powerful subversion of the Western and neo-noir genres. I also dig the distinctive, awesomely poetic title. If the early festival buzz is accurate, then look at this to possibly be 2013’s Beasts of the Southern Wild.    

Only Lovers Left Alive
Release Date: TBD
Plot: IMDb has only the basic, uninformative description of “a story of two vampires who have been in love for centuries”.
Why You Should Pay Attention: Over the course of the past decade, Twilight and its successors, with few exceptions, have pretty much sucked the life out of vampire stories and left the genre a pale, wheezing, rotting corpse, so perhaps ardent skepticism is the right approach here. But if any movie has a chance at resuscitating the genre, it might be this one, especially since it doesn’t sound like we’re getting that TV show adaptation of Justin Cronin’s The Passage any time soon (Ridley Scott is technically preparing it as a movie, but if he had any brains or common sense, he’d figure out that the small screen is the way to go). I’m shamefully not familiar at all with director-writer Jim Jarmusch’s work, but he’s highly respected among the art house crowd and is credited with being one of the biggest forces behind the independent film movement of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Judging from the description of his style on Wikipedia, he sounds like a perfect fit for the moody, atmospheric tone often needed for a vampire flick that will perhaps stay truer to that monster’s sinister, Gothic roots than its lovesick, maudlin 21st-century incarnations. Not to mention that if the cast of Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Anton Yelchin, Mia Wasikowska and John Hurt doesn’t make your pulse quicken, then you clearly have absolutely no appreciation for extremely white, gifted thespians with amazing bone structure. The only way this ensemble could be more vampire-like is if it included Michael Fassbender – oh, wait, it almost did.       


Yep, I’m sold.

Lowlife
Release Date: TBD
Plot: After finding herself trapped by prostitution, an immigrant meets a magician who tries to save her from her sleazy lifestyle and bring her and her sister, who is being held on Ellis Island, back together.
Why You Should Pay Attention: Okay, I’ll concede that the plot sounds potentially clichéd and melodramatic, but so did James Gray’s last feature, the love-triangle drama Two Lovers, and that turned out to be a pleasantly restrained, authentic-feeling venture that didn’t go quite where you expected it to. Reteaming with Joaquin Phoenix for the fourth time in five directorial outings, Gray is possibly tackling a much bigger, more ambitious scope with this period piece, though he stays in the New York City setting that he seems to know so well. His presence at the helm should hopefully indicate that this will be more than just a dressed-up, wannabe-prestigious Cinderella story. The nearly always wonderful Marion Cotillard ought to have a juicy, compelling role as the female lead, and after seeing him dabble in the world of commercial Hollywood with The Avengers, The Bourne Legacy and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, I’m thrilled (and, frankly, relieved) that Jeremy Renner will be returning to the gritty dramatic mold that brought him his late-blooming fame.   

Untitled David O. Russell/Abscam Project
Release Date: TBD
Plot: In the 1970s, a convicted con artist helps the FBI with a sting operation that looked into public government corruption and was, according to Wikipedia, the first major FBI investigation to convict corrupt public officials.
Why You Should Pay Attention: A ‘70s-set crime thriller that reunites Silver Linings Playbook trio Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and David O. Russell while also starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Louis C.K.? Um, where has this movie been my whole life? I’m a total sucker for period crime movies, an itch that the disappointingly blah Public Enemies failed to scratch, and that’s pretty much my dream cast; not only are they unfairly talented (and yeah, I’ll say it, attractive), but Louis C.K. is the only person who hasn’t been nominated for an Oscar already, and he still has at least an Emmy nod to his name. With Silver Linings and, before that, The Fighter, Russell has developed a newly mature, stripped-down approach to directing that’s refreshing in an age when flashy stylization often gets mistaken for artistry. This movie marks a departure from those intimate family dramas, but as long as Russell stays true to his reputation as a keen observer of human quirks and the nuances of relationships, the genre shift shouldn’t be an issue. Russell’s last two movies both wound up with both Best Picture and Best Director Academy Award nominations; can he go three in a row with this as-yet-untitled film? Obviously, we’ll have to wait and see, but I’m already swooning with anticipation.

Perfection.


Others to Watch Out For: Derek Cianfrance follows up his emotionally devastating romantic drama Blue Valentine with The Place Beyond the Pines (3/29, limited release), a crime drama starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes……Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy return as Jesse and Celine for Before Midnight (5/24), the third installment in Richard Linklater’s unique trilogy……Guillermo del Toro brings us one of the more fascinating blockbusters of the year with the secretive, Idris Elba-led, sci-fi action Pacific Rim (7/12)……Crime drama Prisoners (9/20) has a Black Listed, highly buzzed-about script and an all-star cast led by Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhall……Winner of both the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Ryan Coogler’s debut film Fruitvale (10/18) depicts the true story of Oscar Grant, who was shot and killed by a policeman in 2009……The Counselor (11/15) boasts Ridley Scott as its director, a cast that includes Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Michael Fassbender and, most notably, renowned author Cormac McCarthy with his first-ever screenplay……The Monuments Men (12/20) has George Clooney doing the directing/writing/acting trifecta with an A-list cast for what could be this year’s Argo……Headlined by Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson and Colin Farrell, Saving Mr. Banks (12/20) follows the journey that Mary Poppins took from novel to big screen success

And Still More, Because I Just Can’t Stop (all release dates TBD): Starring Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet, Labor Day supposedly continues director Jason Reitman’s descent into darker, more dramatic territory……Spike Jonze returns for his first movie since 2009 with the intriguing, almost assuredly innovative Her, which has a lonely writer developing a relationship with a computer……Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo and Hailee Steinfeld lead an oddball ensemble for the musical Can a Song Save Your Life? from Once writer-director John Carney……Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut Don Jon and coming-of-age dramedy The Spectacular Now with Shailene Woodley and Mary Elizabeth Winstead count among the many Sundance successes……Out of the Furnace comes from Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper and features Christian Bale, Zoe Saldana, Casey Affleck and Woody Harrelson......The consistently underappreciated Chiwetel Ejiofor anchors Steve McQueen’s historical drama Twelve Years a Slave in what looks like the art house world’s answer to Django Unchained……If you can get past Mark Ruffalo looking like this, Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, which depicts the real-life story of a schizophrenic millionaire who killed an Olympic wrestler, sounds like an interesting follow-up to Moneyball worth keeping an eye on……In what is an undoubtedly ambitious and experimental first feature from newbie director Ned Benson, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His/Hers is actually two parallel movies that both tell the story of a New York couple’s relationship, once from his (James McAvoy’s) viewpoint and once from her (Jessica Chastain’s) perspective……The Past brings together three recent foreign film breakouts in director Asghar Farhadi (Oscar nominee for 2011’s A Separation) and stars Bérénice Bejo and Tahar Rahim (The Artist and A Prophet, respectively)  for a complex-sounding domestic drama


Photo Links:

No comments:

Post a Comment