Author Archives: LukeMiller

REVIEW: Shame

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Shame
Directed by: Steve McQueen
Written by: Steven McQueen and Abi Morgan
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan

After their much-revered 2008 film Hunger, artist-turned-filmmaker Steve McQueen teams up again with rising star Michael Fassbender for an even more daring film. Their latest, Shame, exposes a damaged sibling relationship — plagued by addiction and humiliation — in a revealing, sexually graphic yet restrained fashion that leaves their characters and audience stripped with nowhere to hide.

Shame focuses mostly on Brandon, a seemingly successful but empty man whose addiction to porn, masturbation, one-night stands, escorts and voyeurism leaves him lifeless and unsatisfied. Living alone in his sterile Manhattan flat, Brandon lives a claustrophobic routine. He wakes up exhausted and naked in a rumpled bed, staring off as if he weren’t alive and remains terse and to himself throughout the day. He has a good job doing something we never quite figure out and has very little to say to anyone. It doesn’t take long for us to figure out why. Continue reading →

Oscar Nomination Predictions 2012

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Best Picture: While The Artist is this year’s clear frontrunner with big wins at the Golden Globes and Producer’s Guild Awards, The Descendants and The Help are close on its heals. If this were a year with five nominations Midnight in Paris and War Horse would round the pack. But this isn’t a five-film year, nor is it a ten. Rather than explain the complicated, new system, just note that there could as many ten or as few as five films nominated pending on the number of votes a film receives. The totally will likely be around seven or eight with the sheer number of worthy-contenders. Odds favor darker dramas (like our pick for best film of the year, The Tree of Life) over an already largely comedic selection of sure-bets. Continue reading →

REVIEW: The Artist

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The Artist
Directed by: Michel Hazanavicius
Written by: Michel Hazanavicius
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, Uggie and John Goodman

In an era of cinema where films like Avatar and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol are breaking sensory limitations, The Artist provides audiences a different set of sensory challenges, in particularly, the absence or minimization of them.

For those who are unfamiliar with the title that is sweeping award’s season off its feet — it won Best Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes earlier this week and is a Best Picture frontrunner with countless BAFTA and other guild nominations — The Artist is a nostalgic, black-and-white Hollywood throwback to the likes of Singing in the Rain, A Star is Born, Sunset Boulevard and other classic Hollywood bourgeoisie films. Oh, and if you haven’t heard, it’s a silent film.

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Debatable: Do most moviegoers dislike art movies?

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Debatable, one of our newest series piloted earlier this year with a discussion on video-on-the-go, pins CyniCritics contributors together to tackle big picture movie-related topics through back-and-forth dialogue. The latest prompt asks editors if general movie audiences dislike art movies and if so, why.

Matt: I don’t think the “general public” is opposed to art movies in general. It’s mostly about distribution and marketing. The biggest marketing tool for successful art movies is the Academy Awards. However, the taste of Oscar voters leaves out many films that don’t fit into a specific mold or go too far away from narrative convention. That taste then translates to the public, who has limited choice and is more likely to look for stars or be influenced by a memorable trailer.

Luke: I think you bring up an interesting point with the Academy Awards as a marketing tool. There are countless art movies released in the year that find little commercial success until the holiday and awards season. Once the Academy, critics and marketing push a handful of “must-see” films, they start making a lot of money at the theaters because audiences feel these are good films they shouldn’t miss out on. No one would have seen Slumdog Millionaire without the buzz. Nominations and such also translate into good DVD rentals, which explains why Netflix’s top 10 rented movies are mostly Best Picture nominated films. Before then, people just don’t know what is good or don’t know how to find what is good and are too afraid to take a chance. This might explain why it’s easier to go see Mission: Impossible over Hugo. Continue reading →

The 11 Best Movie Posters of 2011

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After reading a few eye-rolling best movie posters of 2011 lists and questioning the rationalities behind fans and writers picking their favorite posters, I took the time to compile our own own list, putting two years of ad school skills with a fellow designer / colleague to practice. Here is a look at some of the best that came to mind. Honorable mentions: Bridesmaids, Scream 4, The Dark Knight Rises, Shame and Weekend.

11. The Run Diary: Commercially the long-awaited Johnny Depp film was a flop and critically it still disappointed. Most of the blame goes to marketing execs, who didn’t quite know how to sell the film despite a mildly attractive trailer and this copy clever typographical poster.

10. J. Edgar: Most might argue the other way on this, claiming Leo in an unflattering, oddly cropped portrait missed the mark, however, the still demands much attention and captures the character brilliantly. The hand-written signature title at the top quiets the image to match the tone of Eastwood’s film. Continue reading →

TRAILER REVIEW: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Written by: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving

It’s been almost a decade since The Lord of the Rings last appeared on the big screen. A lot has changed in that period of time, especially concerning the director the studio and lawsuits and negotiations over the content. Add in budget negotiations, timetable struggles and a director backing out, The Hobbit has probably undergone one of the most difficult journey’s too get made. On Tuesday night, fans were surprised with the trailer release: proof it’s finally here. Continue reading →

TRAILER REVIEW: The Dark Knight Rises

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The Dark Knight Rises
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Written by: Jonathon Nolan, Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

With everything at stake in the final film and conclusion to Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale’s much-venerated Batman series, The Dark Knight Rises trailer appears to address all our concerns while making us scratch for more. In the four years since its predecessor, which poised itself as the third highest domestic box office grosser of all-time and near critical masterpiece with eight Academy Award nominations, Nolan let the dust settle on the franchise, instead moving on to Inception. Needless to say, expectations for the final Batman film are considerably high. Continue reading →

REVIEW: Beginners

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Beginners
Directed by: Mike Mills
Written by: Mike Mills
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent

It isn’t surprising that you probably haven’t seen or even heard of Beginners, one of the best-kept secrets of the year and most unlikely coming-of-age films in a long time.

Beginners, loosely based off of writer-director Mike Mills own life-changing story, follows two “beginners”, a 38 year old man named Oliver (McGregor) and his 75 year old cancer-stricken father Hal (Plummer), who just came out after his wife of four decades passed away. It turns out Hal was gay the whole time, and now wants to take on life and love with unrelenting vigor. Oliver has his own closet to come out of. Struggling with commitment, identity, failure and his father’s issues, Oliver leaves himself secluded, that is, until a gorgeous, flighty French actress Anna (Laurent) comes along provides him a challenge in life, love and time.

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REVIEW: The Ides of March

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The Ides of March
Directed by: George Clooney
Written by: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
Starring: George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Evan Rachel Wood, Paul Giamatti

The fourth film by George Clooney (following Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Good Night, and Good Luck and Leatherheads) really begins to define George Clooney as a director, which is starkly similar to his reputation as an actor. Neither does Clooney the director or Clooney actor ever take brash or bold artistic risks, but instead they both seem to keep their class by maximizing their modest range.

Put more simply, he knows what he’s good at and he avoids the rest at all costs. Continue reading →