Opening: Retread Horror, 'Woodstock'

It's set to be a mostly quiet week at movie theaters this weekend after Quentin Tarantino and his merry band of Basterds stormed the box office last weekend. Opening today are two horror sequels: "The Final Destination" and Rob Zombie's "Halloween 2". Neither of those movies screened for critics, but "The Final Destination" is running a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes while "Halloween 2" is faring significantly better at 21%.

Also opening this weekend is Ang Lee's "Taking Woodstock", which was mostly met with shrugs at its debut at the Cannes Film Festival and has been greeted with a similar reaction stateside. It currently has ratings of 55 and 50 at Metacritic and RT respectively, but it is an Ang Lee film so it might be worth checking out if you have an interest in the topic.

Opening in very limited release this week are the documentary "The September Issue" and "Big Fan", the latter of which stars comedian Patton Oswalt as an obsessive New York Giants fan.

Taymor's 'The Tempest' Pushed to 2010

Via In Contention comes news that Julie Taymor's version of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" has been pushed back to 2010 because of a lengthy post-production. So in the last few weeks we've seen "Green Zone," "The Wolfman," "Shutter Island," and now "The Tempest" all delayed until next year. And of all people it looks like Malick won't have his film delayed and "Tree of Life" will actually come out on Christmas Day. Funny how things work out sometimes.

Marty (1955)

Directed by Delbert Mann

"Marty" is a story about ugly people. The title character, Marty Piletti (Ernest Borgnine), is self-described as fat and ugly while his love interest, Clara (Betsy Blair), is described by everyone in the film, including Marty, as a "dog". The supporting characters are not necessarily physically ugly or terrible people, but the only actions they take in the film are out of selfishness and not a one of them comes out of the film looking pretty. Yet the film was a smash hit and took best picture honors at both the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Awards, becoming only the second film to achieve that feat and no film has managed it since.

How "Marty" achieved this I do not know. "Marty" is a fine film, but it is not a great one. The plot is simple enough: Marty is a 34 year-old butcher who has just seen his 19 year-old kid brother get married, leaving him as the lone bachelor in the family. This distresses his mother, whom he still lives with, and she is constantly urging him to meet a nice girl and marry her. Marty has a few friends he hangs out with, including his best friend, Angie (Joe Mantell), who are all also bachelors and still go out on the town every night looking for a good time. Marty, however, has grown weary of that and has given up trying to find a girl until his mother convinces him one night to put on his blue suit and go to the Stardust Ballroom. He and Angie go and while there Marty runs into a guy looking to ditch his date and is willing to pay Marty to take her home for him. Marty refuses the money on principle, but introduces himself to the girl, Clara, after watching her get dumped and...magic! They, of course, are instantly attracted to each other and the only question is whether or not our lovable chump is going to manage to screw this up.

The best part of the picture is the script by the legendary Paddy Chayefsky, who deservedly won the first of his three Oscars for it. The script crackles with wit and charm and even features what would be called Altmanesque touches if it hadn't been written well before Altman made overlapping dialogue his trademark. Borgnine also excels as Marty in his first leading role. Before "Marty" he had been typecast as a heavy, and Borgnine jumps at the chance to play a romantic role and show his more sensitive and human side.

The script and lead performance don't explain how on earth "Marty" became such a huge box office and awards success though. And let's be clear--it was a huge success. Adapted from Chayefsky's script from an episode of The Goodyear Television Playhouse (where Marty was played by Rod Steiger--who is not Italian, which is interesting considering the Italian-centric nature of the film) the film was made for $343,000 and made over $3 million at the domestic box office alone. It was then nominated for eight Oscars, winning four. Besides Best Picture, it picked up Oscars for Borgnine, first-time director Delbert Mann (who became the first man to win that honor for his debut), and for Chayefsky's script.

Truth be told, 1955 was a year where the best films were not nominated for Best Picture by the Academy. "Rebel Without a Cause," "The Night of the Hunter," "East of Eden," and "Bad Day at Black Rock" were all snubbed for the big prize that year, leaving a nice, popular, middlebrow film like "Marty" with a great script and quality lead performance to walk away with the statue. Which, in a way, is a perfect outcome for "Marty." It's not the prettiest film you'll ever see, but you'll have a pretty nice time watching it. 3 out of 4 stars.

'Inglourious Basterds' is Tarantino's Biggest Opening Ever

The Weinstein Company should be happy with this news: "Inglourious Basterds" by raking in a touch over $38 million is the biggest opening ever for Quentin Tarantino and also the biggest opening ever for a film in the second half of August.

The full Top 10 follows:

1. Inglourious Basterds: $38,054,676
2. District 9: $18,213,546
3. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: $12,204,927
4. The Time Traveler's Wife: $9,742,427
5. Julie & Julia: $8,800,674
6. Shorts: $6,410,339
7. G-Force: $4,114,611
8. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: $3,478,149
9. The Ugly Truth: $2,774,174
10. The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard: $2,710,194
    

'Inception' Teaser Debuts

This teaser for Christopher Nolan's follow-up to "The Dark Knight" debuted this weekend before "Inglourious Basterds" and has now hit the web. As of today, July 2010 cannot come soon enough. As you can see from the trailer "Inception" stars Leonardo DiCaprio, but the cast also includes Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, along with Nolan veterans Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe and Michael Caine. Enjoy!

Julie & Julia (2009)

Directed by Nora Ephron

So of course a 21 year old male college student starts a film blog and the first review is of a Nora Ephron movie. But considering a blogging storyline makes up half the film I feel I should be able to get away with starting out with a chick flick.

And as it turns out Julie & Julia is actually a tremendous amount of fun. It is easily Ephron's best film since "Sleepless in Seattle" and possibly her best work, period, since the screenplay for "When Harry Met Sally...".

Julie & Julia is about the lives of two women. One is the most famous chef of the 20th century, Julia Child, played perfectly by Meryl Streep, while the other is Julie Powell (Amy Adams), who is not the most famous anything of the 21st century. The film begins with the story of Child as she moves to Paris in 1948 after her diplomat husband, Paul (the wonderful Stanley Tucci), is stationed there by the State Department. Child instantly falls in love with everything about Paris--especially the food--but has trouble finding something to do with her time. She takes a hat-making class but is quickly bored by that before Paul finally suggests she takes a cooking class. She initially signs up for a beginner's class, but wants something more advanced--after all "I already know how to boil an egg." The registrar at Le Cordon Bleu, however, is the only person who has ever taken a dislike to Julia Child and initially refuses her request to become the only woman in the professional course, but eventually Child talks her way into it and quickly becomes the best student in the class.

Fast-forward to 2002 and Julie Powell is moving with her husband (Chris Messina) to Queens, and Julie instantly despises her new home. About the only thing she despises more than Queens is her job, answering the phones for a government agency attempting to deal with the aftermath of 9/11. The agony of this job is accentuated by the success her old college friends have enjoyed while she has failed in her attempts to publish a novel and become a writer. When she hears that one of her friends has started a vapid, but successful, blog Julie decides to start her own blog, and with her husband's support decides that it will be about her attempt to cook her away through all 524 of the recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in one year.

And off we go as Julia becomes a master French chef and is enlisted by two friends attempting to write a French cookbook for American women and Julie cooks her way through the cookbook as her blog picks up readers and comments. Ephron does well enough in giving both of the stories their due and the transitions between the stories are relatively seamless, but the film's fundamental weakness resides in the fact that one of these women is far more fascinating than the other. Julia Child is easily one of the most fascinating personalities of the 20th century. Everyone knows the distinctive voice and Streep, the master of accents herself, not only gets the voice down perfectly but also fully embodies the joy and bubbly personality that always came through the television screen. There is no doubt in watching Streep in this film that we are in fact getting a previously unimaginable glimpse at the pre-fame Child, and as Julia has the time of her life cooking in Paris Streep is plainly also having the time of her life playing the boisterous legend.

It is unlikely that any character could manage to hold their own in a competing storyline with Streep as Julia Child, but poor Amy Adams doesn't have a chance with Julie Powell. This is not to say that Adams does a poor job in the film--she's quite good--but it is not a terribly significant departure from her most recent roles, although it is true that Powell has a mean streak not present in most Adams roles. However, the foul-mouthed Powell of reality is not present in Ephron's PG-13 script (in fact, the one and only f-bomb allowed under the MPAA's rules for PG-13 films is uttered by Tucci) and although Ephron's Powell is plainly a narcissist and not a particularly nice person there is still a bit of a disconnect watching Adams call herself a bitch when Julie has a moment of self-reflection.

But this film is a must-see simply for Streep's tour-de-force. Her half of the storyline is simply hilarious and the chemistry she shares with "The Devil Wears Prada" co-star Tucci is impeccable. A record 16th Oscar nomination is surely in the cards for Streep, and it is possible that this is finally the role that will give her the ever elusive third Oscar. There are several great supporting performances in Julie & Julia as well: Tucci of course, and Chris Messina is fantastic as Powell's long-suffering and impossibly supportive husband, Eric. Kudos also go to Jane Lynch as Julia's sister Dorothy in a brilliant cameo, and "24" fans should also get a kick out of Mary Lynn Rajskub's appearance in the Powell storyline. Also noteworthy is the brilliant use of the Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" as a musical cue in the best scene of the Powell half.

All in all, Julie & Julia is a great film featuring what has to be one of the best performances of the year. Don't be afraid of being caught at a Nora Ephron movie, this is highly recommended no matter your age or gender. 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.

Before We Begin, A Public Service Announcement

Season 3 of Mad Men premieres tonight on AMC!

Actual film content will begin on Monday. Planned for this week are reviews of two current releases, a Best Picture winner, a Steve McQueen starrer, and what is reputed to be one of the greatest silent films ever made. Or maybe that will be spread over this week and next, depends on how it goes I suppose. Also, trailers and whatever cinematic musings pop into my head. Just make sure you don't miss Mad Men!

Content Coming Soon

Testing...