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Audio/Visual: A Decade of Music in Film

Chris — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:22:47 +0000

It’s time to get the real party started. I’ve whittled down what I prefer to think of as the “critical darlings” of my top ten best scores of the past decade. From this point on, it’s all subjective. The next three scores are personal favorites that I feel are real standouts from the hordes of disappointingly functional soundtracks I’ve witnessed. Before I continue, let me clarify a few things. I chose these scores (and this is so for the previous picks) not just because they suited their respective films; this they did well. I am highlighting them because they are also, standalone, great music that isn’t content to merely assist the visual action. At times, these soundtracks may even overwhelm the film itself, though this is a rarity. I love them because it’s not until you hear them outside their natural habitat that you realize how phenomenal they are.

The score for Dave McKean’s MIRRORMASK is a great example of this. The first time I heard this score, I was mildly intrigued but I couldn’t figure out why it stood out, because so much of the film fought with it visually. If you’ve never seen MIRRORMASK, it’s a starkly rendered treat that isn’t quite CG but not at all an animated film so it’s no surprise that I had to sample the score on its own to grasp its appeal.

Like the movie, the soundtrack is a dark carnival of eccentric textures, though one particular facet is notable. Iain Ballamy, a close friend the director and cooperator of their shared record label, was brought on to compose, having worked in the past with David Bowie on a musical film. Much like LOST IN TRANSLATION, this is again an example of a director working closely with the composer, adding his own ideas to the mix and enhancing the accuracy of what is portrayed through the music.

What you get really is very unique. Ballamy, an immensely talented saxophone player, keeps traditional instruments in the forefront, bringing to bear only a few layers of sound and the occasional electronic trimmings. Consequently, the music is hauntingly minimalist; even the lighter pieces feel unsettled and spectral. What Ballamy wasn’t afraid to do is to really explore; the score traverses just about every landscape imaginable, from twisted whimsy to psychedelic ambiance transforming into a frenetic, percussion-driven rush. It must’ve been difficult to keep up with the film itself in terms of creativity and spectacle, and yet he churned out a distinctly brilliant gem that glitters darkly alongside the film itself, hidden but vivacious and keen.

To this day, I still don’t know what to make of the score for A SCANNER DARKLY. I’m not familiar at all with the composer, Graham Reynolds, or his Golden Arm Trio. They’re really about as enigmatic as it gets. Which is a crying shame, because this is a sucker punch of a score. While the MIRRORMASK music was subtle like a tight rope performer, A SCANNER DARKLY has a capably menacing atmosphere that never quite lets up. Much like Jonny Greenwood’s work with THERE WILL BE BLOOD, Reynolds utilizes a subtle blend of electronics and strings, but rather than screech with discordant dread, A SCANNER DARKLY chooses to shimmer with a glossy noir gloom that is really tantalizing.

What really sticks in my head about this score is how chilling it is. The blend of deep, bluesy noir, percussive electronics, and dramatic strings is dosed perfectly. They could’ve erred on the side of computerization and come out too inhuman, or they could’ve bent too far into the noir realm and risked undermining the warped, frantic transformations the film throws at the audience. Instead, there’s a perfect balance in place, resulting in a body of sound that I would describe as a late night stroll down the dark, rain-soaked memory lane of hacked and scrambled supercomputer. In other words, perfect future noir.

TAXIDERMIA is a film I’ve never seen. But I’ve listened to the score hundreds of times. I feel this score is one of the strongest of the entire set for that reason alone. I will admit that, having heard these soundtracks alongside their visual components influenced my take on them. That I have no doubt of. That I am so enamored of Amon Tobin’s work on TAXIDERMIA should indicate just how strongly I feel about this music. The fact is, out of all three of these, this score stands out the most, and while many fans of traditional film scores will scoff at it, I love it to death.

To begin with, its produced and composed by one Amon Tobin. Unlike the two other artists mentioned in this article, I am a fan of Amon Tobin. I discovered him via his excellent soundtrack for the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory videogame, then became enamored of his whole discography. To discover that he scored a film was exciting enough. The fact that it’s a hypersurreal Hungarian body-horror flick that could make Cronenberg blink is a fact I find amusing at least.

What matters here is how very unique Amon Tobin’s style of scoring is. Tobin is the master of sampled percussion and he does not temper his taste for razor sharp beats here. What he does do is to take his eclecticism to a whole new level. Utilizing the expensive and precise studio setup he made his “Foley Room” album with, he drives a thousand microcosmic samples through a computer and produces a dark spectrum of murky, lurching, hallucinatory tunes throbbing with a rhythmic backbone of his flawless beat manipulation. The soundtrack includes one of the best songs of all time: “Here Comes The Moon Man”, a piece of music that is as alien as it gets.

And that wraps up the penultimate chapter of the top ten scores of the past decade. There’s only two more soundtracks to go. I won’t give away what they are just yet but I will hint for amusements sake. One of them is composed by a popular and critically praised composer yet is still a score often overlooked, one you likely have heard or have heard of. The other is the work of a single man producing his debut film by himself that premiered as Sundance to critical mockery despite being wholly original and stunningly rendered. Join me later today, just prior to the end of the year, as I announce the last two of the best film scores of 2000-2009.

Audio/Visual: A Decade of Music in Film

Chris — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:19:47 +0000

I chose my previous two film scores based on both their distinctiveness in both context and content, but also because they had certain weaknesses that, while important to their character, still kept them from being the kind of landmark works that are universally acknowledged as ground-breaking and important. The three scores I’m highlighting this week were chosen specifically for both their widespread popularity and critical success.

Let’s begin with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This is a score that many, many people who are even remotely familiar with the film are aware of in terms of importance. Like the other films I’m focusing on here, the music of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon goes hand in hand with the other elements of the movie, but it could be said that, out of the three, this score is the most potent accompaniment. This is mostly because of the movie’s setting; feudal China. The score for CTHD was composed by Tan Dun, a Chinese composer who moved to New York City to study modern classical composition, and later worked on the score for the film “Don’t Cry, Nanking”. Unlike the other composers in this group, Dun came from a classical background, and it’s immediately apparent. But what is surprising is how much emphasis Dun placed on his collaborator, world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

In fact, Yo-Yo Ma’s performance is the most prominent element of most of the score. Occasionally, for some of the martial arts sequences, Dun utilizes powerful and exhilarating percussion, but more often than not, the score of CTHD is a work of beauty and inestimable grace. Yo-Yo Ma produces one of the most vocal and emotional ranges in the work of a solo string musician I’ve ever heard. To say that his playing is affecting would be understatement. In versa Jon Tavener’s work in Children of Men, it is not a light comment to compare the power of both as equal, when Tavener drew from a massive and versatile arsenal of symphonic tropes. Dun and Ma almost never resort to heavy-handed drama, and when they do it’s strictly in the service of the on-screen action. The key appeal of this soundtrack is the virtuoso skill of Ma drawing together all the breath-taking beauty and emotion of the film (no easy feat) into a few mere strings, at the behest of Tan Dun.

The score for There Will Be Blood is the polar opposite of the former. A film that sticks its fingers into the open wounds of a man bound to self destruction, only a score as unsettling as this could possibly be worthy of the Coen Brothers’ most ambitious work. And with a fortuitous moment of serendipity, the Coen Brothers managed to wrangle Radiohead’s guitarist and composer, Jonny Greenwood. Greenwood did score a film prior to There Will Be Blood but it was a little known documentary that gave Greenwood free reign to experiment without any real format. Creating music for There Will Be Blood was an entirely different beast; this was a period piece based loosely off a novel, and Greenwood would have to meet not only the expectations of the Coen Bros. fanbase but that of his own, not to mention make it a relevant and appropriate work of music.

He succeeded with flying colors. The strength of his score for There Will Be Blood lies in Greenwood’s purposeful malevolence in rendering the colors and tones of the various pieces comprising the body of the soundtrack. He intended, out and out, to unsettle and violate the conceived expectation of what the period music would sound like. He did use traditional strings and maintained the proper elements through the whole film, but he subverted more often than not, seeking purposefully to disturb the listener with dissonant electronics and tense moods that underlined every scene of the film with a powerful dread or creeping anxiety. It could’ve easily been the score to a powerhouse horror film but instead, it became a great example of how a score can unwrap a film’s true life; one of bleak misanthropy and gritty fatalism.

Last, but not least, is Kevin Shield’s “score” for Lost In Translation, Sofia Coppola’s second film after The Virgin Suicides. Unlike the soundtrack for The Virgin Suicides, which consisted entirely of songs written by various artists, Lost In Translation’s score was composed by Kevin Shields, he of the critically adored My Bloody Valentine. Much of the music in the film was chosen together by Coppola and Shields, but the pieces Shields wrote for the soundtrack are as appealing and wonderful as any song that appears during the film’s narrative. What’s vital to the sweet taste of the score’s placement alongside the film is how very intimate their relationship is; Sofia is as much to be credited for the music as Shields, and that’s disappointingly rare in the world of film.

What a breath of fresh air it is to hear a whole collection of music that is as much a part of the beating heart of a film as the visuals are; the songs and pieces are probably, out of the entire spectrum of scores presented, the most appealing outside of their original context. It has been said, and it holds true, that the Kevin Shields-created tracks from this soundtrack are the My Bloody Valentine songs that never existed, but that’s not entirely accurate. These are far more enjoyable and accessible than the noise-pop of My Bloody Valentine and, by necessity, they ring a far more potent range of emotion than his former band could marshal (if anything, it echoes the synth wonder of Air, the French band who assembled the music for Virgin Suicides). Of particular note is the end piece, simply titled “Goodbye”. Paired with what I personally consider the most effective and moving endings I’ve seen from a romance film, it struck a powerful broadcast that most of the film’s fans will enthusiastically endorse.

Let’s begin with CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. This is a score that many, many people who are even remotely familiar with the film are aware of in terms of importance. Like the other films I’m focusing on here, the music of Crouching Tiger, HIDDEN DRAGON goes hand in hand with the other elements of the movie, but it could be said that, out of the three, this score is the most potent accompaniment. This is mostly because of the movie’s setting; feudal China. The score for CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON was composed by Tan Dun, a Chinese composer who moved to New York City to study modern classical composition, and later worked on the score for the film “DON’T CRY, NANKING”. Unlike the other composers in this group, Dun came from a classical background, and it’s immediately apparent. But what is surprising is how much emphasis Dun placed on his collaborator, world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

In fact, Yo-Yo Ma’s performance is the most prominent element of most of the score. Occasionally, for some of the martial arts sequences, Dun utilizes powerful and exhilarating percussion, but more often than not, the score of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is a work of beauty and inestimable grace. Yo-Yo Ma produces one of the most vocal and emotional ranges in the work of a solo string musician I’ve ever heard. To say that his playing is affecting would be understatement. In versa Jon Tavener’s work in Children of Men, it is not a light comment to compare the power of both as equal, when Tavener drew from a massive and versatile arsenal of symphonic tropes. Dun and Ma almost never resort to heavy-handed drama, and when they do it’s strictly in the service of the on-screen action. The key appeal of this soundtrack is the virtuoso skill of Ma drawing together all the breath-taking beauty and emotion of the film (no easy feat) into a few mere strings, at the behest of Tan Dun.

The score for THERE WILL BE BLOOD is the polar opposite of the former. A film that sticks its fingers into the open wounds of a man bound to self destruction, only a score as unsettling as this could possibly be worthy of Paul Thomas Anderson’s most ambitious work. And with a fortuitous moment of serendipity, PT Anderson managed to wrangle Radiohead’s guitarist and composer, Jonny Greenwood. Greenwood did score a film prior to THERE WILL BE BLOOD but it was a little known documentary that gave Greenwood free reign to experiment without any real format. Creating music for THERE WILL BE BLOOD was an entirely different beast; this was a period piece based loosely off a novel, and Greenwood would have to meet not only the expectations of the PTA fanbase but that of his own, not to mention make it a relevant and appropriate work of music.

He succeeded with flying colors. The strength of his score for THERE WILL BE BLOOD lies in Greenwood’s purposeful malevolence in rendering the colors and tones of the various pieces comprising the body of the soundtrack. He intended, out and out, to unsettle and violate the conceived expectation of what the period music would sound like. He did use traditional strings and maintained the proper elements through the whole film, but he subverted more often than not, seeking purposefully to disturb the listener with dissonant electronics and tense moods that underlined every scene of the film with a powerful dread or creeping anxiety. It could’ve easily been the score to a powerhouse horror film but instead, it became a great example of how a score can unwrap a film’s true life; one of bleak misanthropy and gritty fatalism.

Last, but not least, is Kevin Shield’s “score” for LOST IN TRANSLATION, Sofia Coppola’s second film after THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. Unlike the soundtrack for THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, which consisted entirely of songs written by various artists, LOST IN TRANSLATION’s score was composed by Kevin Shields, he of the critically adored My Bloody Valentine. Much of the music in the film was chosen together by Coppola and Shields, but the pieces Shields wrote for the soundtrack are as appealing and wonderful as any song that appears during the film’s narrative. What’s vital to the sweet taste of the score’s placement alongside the film is how very intimate their relationship is; Sofia is as much to be credited for the music as Shields, and that’s disappointingly rare in the world of film.

What a breath of fresh air it is to hear a whole collection of music that is as much a part of the beating heart of a film as the visuals are; the songs and pieces are probably, out of the entire spectrum of scores presented, the most appealing outside of their original context. It has been said, and it holds true, that the Kevin Shields-created tracks from this soundtrack are the My Bloody Valentine songs that never existed, but that’s not entirely accurate. These are far more enjoyable and accessible than the noise-pop of My Bloody Valentine and, by necessity, they ring a far more potent range of emotion than his former band could marshal (if anything, it echoes the synth wonder of Air, the French band who assembled the music for THE VIRGIN SUICIDES). Of particular note is the end piece, simply titled “Goodbye”. Paired with what I personally consider the most effective and moving endings I’ve seen from a romance film (even succeeding BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN’s heartbreaking tragedy), it struck a powerful broadcast that most of the film’s fans will enthusiastically endorse.

These three scores are what I personally would label as objectively possible as “The Best Of The Decade”, but that’s keeping in mind my own slight bias. With that, I’m ending my reign of attempted objectivity. I love and appreciate all three of the aforementioned soundtracks, but they are not as personally meaningful as the next five, and the fact is that I’m simply not talented or patient enough to craft an entire list of ten films I could objectively rate and be satisfied with. Instead, I’ll be highlighting my personal favorites and explaining why they, above all, make my five favorite film scores of the past decade. Still, a reminder; these past five films are what I focus on as being, objectively, the best films scores of the past decade. The next five are my own personal picks.

Chicago Guy: All-Time Top Five

Adam Keune — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:19:09 +0000

We Are Movie Geeks would like to welcome the newest member of our little family and allow him the opportunity to introduce himself. Adam, aka The Chicago Guy, will be adding his own Chicago-style point-of-view on all things cinematic, movies that is.

All-Time Top Five

Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love All Forms of Cinema

Hello all! This is Adam, the newest writer for WeAreMovieGeeks.com. I will be your Chicago correspondent, covering all things cinematic related to the Windy City: premieres, screenings, Chi-town trivia, etc. This Midwest metropolis has been my home since 2003, and will be for a long time to come.

I blame my movie addiction on my dear big brother–and WAMG managing editor–Travis. As kids, we shared many a late night watching whatever we could get our hands on–from the latest blockbuster to the oldest, shlockiest horror movie Travis could find at the video store. His enthusiasm could turn even the worst movie into an experience, and that enthusiasm was contagious.

My love of cinema eventually led me to earn a college degree in theatre, which in turn led me here to the Windy City to pursue fame and fortune as an actor. You can see how well that turned out… But movies remain for me a passion and a favorite pastime; an escape and an art form; things to be appreciated and enjoyed, analyzed and understood.

As a writer and reviewer, I think it’s important you understand my biases. So, to give you a little taste of my… well, “tastes”, here is my All-Time Top Five Movies. Agree or disagree, these are the ones that resound with me. You know how some annoying people endlessly quote their favorite movies? Yeah, that’s me with these five. So, without further ado:

5. High Fidelity – This movie, about a music geek’s self-absorbed quest for understanding and romantic redemption, is cleverly written and incredibly funny. But I love it mostly because it breaks the mold for romantic comedies. It’s more concerned with what it really feels like to be dumped–to have loved and lost, so to speak–than it is with the story of getting the girl back. It makes for a more compelling and truthful love story than most others I’ve seen… (More on this later.)

4. Pi – A mathematical thriller? Qua?! Even if the math doesn’t scare you, the grainy, dizzying, tension-building, black-and-white filming will certainly unnerve you. And the story may just make you think.

3. Superbad – The most recent addition to my list. The Judd Apatow camp’s contribution to comedy in the past five years has been substantial, but this one stands out for me as being truly outstanding. Besides the standard dick and fart jokes, this raunchy coming-of-age bromance truly caught how teenage boys think, talk, and act. If someone had videotaped my best friend and I senior year of high school, it would have looked eerily similar to this movie…

2. American Beauty – Dysfunctional families are all over Hollywood, but the Burnhams are the ones that I relate to the most. One of those morally ambiguous movies with no clear-cut good guys or bad guys, just a bunch of f$%ed up people trying to get what they think they want. Gotta love it.

1. All the Real Girls – Ok, I admit: I am a romantic. I love a good love story. (See #5) Unfortunately, Hollywood kind of sucks at making good love stories. Their schmaltzy, contrived romances may leave everyone happy at the end of the film, but they sacrifice any sort reality in the process. This movie from director David Gordon Green, however, is not so much concerned with making people feel good. In fact, I think it deliberately sets out to make you feel awkward. The mostly-improvised dialogue is often absurd, the scenes are disjointed and illogical, and the story is hardly a clear arc. The result is painful, unsettling, and ultimately, heart-wrenching. And THAT is what a love story should be.

Now you know where I’m coming from. I could have included countless other movies, but these five represent the things I appreciate the most about cinema and the process of making it. With that, I look forward to contributing and to being the newest Movie Geek!

“Smaller” Films to Watch for in 2009

Travis Keune — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:00:58 +0000

Killshot (January 23)Â �- This movie started shooting when Methuselah was a baby. Okay, that’s a little exaggerated, but it was shot between October 2005 and January 2006. John Madden’s adaptation of this Elmore Leonard crime novel has been sitting on the shelf for years. Presented by Quentin Tarantino, it stars Thomas Jane and Diane Lane as a couple who get tangled in a scam with a bumbling, small-time con artist (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and his over-the-hill hitman partner, the Blackbird (Mickey Rourke). Rosario Dawson and Johnny Knoxville costar. The novel was great, and this one has been on my most anticipated list for the past two years now. Hopefully it actually gets released this year. Â �Maybe we’ll have to wait anther 30 or 40 years.
Outlander (January 23) – So, technically this is not a 2009 movie, as it’s played in virtually every country EXCEPT the US, from Latvia to France, from Spain to Kuwait, and so on. That’s about to change. Howard McCain’s sci-fi/action/adventure film will be hitting US theaters, just not in as many as we’d like. The story follows Kainan, a man from another planet, who crash lands on Earth during the time of the Vikings. He also happens to bring with him a giant predatory alien, both of whom are out for each other’s blood. Kainan forms an alliance with the Vikings to defeat the alien. The cast alone has me eager for this already fairly well-excepted genre flick, featuring Jim Caviezel as Kainan, Sophia Myles, Ron Perlman and John Hurt. It may sound cheesy, but I wouldn’t judge this book by it’s cover.
Fanboys (February 6) – Five different release dates, a whole bunch of re-shoots, and two different versions. Those are just a few figures to mull over when thinking about ‘Fanboys’. The premise about a group of friends who, in 1998, try to break into Skywalker Ranch to steal an early print of ‘The Phantom Menace’ for their dying friend is original and ripe for a whole heap of comedy. One version of the film includes the dying friend angle and is more heartfelt. The other version has the dying friend plot point excised and is replaced by raunchy, vulgar humor. Which version we’ll get on February 6 is anyone’s guess, but the mere fact that the film is finally coming out is a miracle in of itself.
Tokyo! (March 6) -Â �While comic book geeks and movie geeks alike pour into theaters to see ‘Watchmen’, this intriguing, independent film will be getting released in art house theaters across the country. ‘Tokyo!’ is a film by three daring filmmakers: Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-ho. It explores the Japanese capital city through three stories. The young girlfriend of a filmmaker wakes up one morning to find she has gone through a bizarre, physical transformation. A monster-man rises from the sewers of the city to cause havoc. An apartment shut-in must venture outside his front door when a beautiful pizza delivery-woman collapses in his hallway. These three tales are going to make for one captivating film.
The Horsemen (March 13) – There are a number of reasons this film has me excited. One of them is the original slant on the serial killer story. More importantly, it’s the first feature film from Swedish director Jonas Akerlund, who last entertained us in 2002 with ‘Spun’. In the six years that fell in between, Akerlund was busy doing music videos and concert tours for the likes of Metallica, Madonna, Blink 182, The Prodigy and U2. As if this wasn’t reason enough, the film stars the highly under-rated Dennis Quaid, Ziyi Zhang, Patrick Fugit, Eric Balfour (Hell Ride) and the great character actor Peter Stormare (Constantine). The story follows a widowed detective who can’t get over his wife’s death and discovers a connection exists between himself and the suspects of a string of murders related to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Sunshine Cleaning (March 13) – Director Christine Jeffs giving us something a little “lighter” than her previous ‘Sylvia’ and ‘Rain’. This quirky crime-dramedy follows a mother, played by Amy Adams, who decides to start her own unique business with a specific niche market as a way to pay for her son’s expensive private school tuition. She starts a biohazard/crime scene clean-up service. If you aren’t familiar with this, I refer you to an episode of ‘Mythbusters’ in which they test whether it’s possible to clean the rotting stench of death out of a Corvette after a pig carcass has been locked inside for a month. Yeah, sounds fun, huh? The cast also includes Alan Arkin, Emily Blunt, Steve Zahn and Eric Christian Olsen.
I Love You, Man (March 20) – ‘I Love You, Man’ marks the third time Paul Rudd and Jason Segel have worked together. This time around Rudd plays Greg, a newly engaged man who, after evaluating his life, realizes he has no best friend to serve as his Best Man. He begins auditioning men to find the perfect “Best Manâ€ � and comes across Dave, played by Segel. Pretty soon, the two are best friends, and Greg’s fiancÃ �e begins to learn the true meaning of the term “bros before hosâ€ �. This marks the feature film debut of John Hamburg, who previously worked on “Undeclaredâ€ �. ‘I Love You, Man’ sounds like a hilarious film featuring two of the funniest actors working today.
Knowing (March 20) – I’m really having to force myself to NOT go on for too long talking about how much I want to see this movie! You may be thinking, wait… Travis is “excited” about a Nic Cage movie? Yep! But, it’s not because of the Coppola kin. This is director Alex Proyas’ first feature film since 2004, when he gave us ‘I,Robot’. Just in case you forget, Proyas also gave us ‘Dark City’ and ‘The Crow’. Proyas is one of the coolest, yet slowly working filmmakers out there and he’s very much in tune with what makes a good sci-fi film. The story follows a teacher (Cage) who digs up a time capsule at his school, finding some unsettling predictions inside that suggest his family plays a key role in the events being foretold. The cast also includes Rose Byrne, but otherwise is short on recognizable talent. That’s OK with me! Oh yeah, and there’s the bit about how Proyas used the new Red One digital cinema technology to shoot the film.
Adventureland (March 27) – The fact that there has never been a comedy about people who work at an amusement park is beyond me. The idea seems like such a no-brainer when it comes to hilarity. Writer/director Greg Mottola based this film on his own experiences working at Adventureland. Jesse Eisenberg, Ryan Reynolds, Kristen Stewart, Bill Hader, and Kristina Wiig star in ‘Adventureland’. It’s 1987, and James (Eisenberg), a recent college graduate, is looking for a job. He finds all the things he needs to prepare himself for the real world, including love, working at Adventureland.
State of Play (April 17) -Â �Ben Affleck? Russell Crowe? Screenplay by Tony Gilroy? The director of ‘The Last King of Scotland’? Do we really need to know what this film is about to know we wanna see it? In case you do, ‘State of Play’ is about a congressman (Affleck) and an investigative journalist (Crowe) who find themselves involved in a series of brutal murders and a conspiracy concerning some of the nation’s most promising political and corporate figures. This one promises to be an exhilarating political thriller that calls back to the best political thrillers of the ‘70s.
Bruno (May 15) – After the monster success of 2006’s ‘Borat’, it’s amazing to think that it took this long to get a film based around Bruno off the ground. Sacha Baron Cohen finally brings the gay foreign talk show host to the big screen. ‘Bruno’ will follow roughly the same structure as ‘Borat’. The film will be made up of real-life interviews that are strung together to form a narrative. I can’t wait to see this film. ‘Borat’ was one of the funniest movies in recent memory. Hopefully Cohen can continue bringing these characters to the realm of feature films and the exposure they are getting doesn’t ruin the interviews they might get. Regardless, ‘Bruno’ comes out this Summer, and it’s going to be hilarious.
Drag Me to Hell (May 29) – Uh, hello! Two words… Sam Raimi? How can you not be excited about Raimi’s first horror/thriller flick since 2000 when he gave us ‘The Gift’ and Katie Holmes’ post-mortem boobies. I am so glad he got a short break between the first and second ‘Spider-Man’ trilogy. The shift from Juno (Ellen Page) to Alison Lohman (Big Fish) initially was curious, but I’m past that. Now I look forward to the increasingly intriguing Justin Long in this story about a loan officer (Lohman) who must evict an elderly woman from her home, in turn finding herself the bearer of a curse that turns her life literally into a living Hell. She seeks the help of a clairvoyant in an attempt to save herself while evil attempts to push her over the edge.
500 Days of Summer (July 24) -Â �Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are two of the best young actors working today, so imagine the attention that piqued when it was learned they were starring together. ‘500 Days of Summer’ sounds like a pretty conventional rom-com. Levitt plays a man who falls hopelessly in love with a woman (Deschanel) who doesn’t believe in love. It doesn’t take Einstein to sort out where this one is going, but it’s going to be fascinating to see how it gets there. Once you know you’re dealing with a romantic comedy of this nature, it’s all up to the execution in the directing and the acting to bring some freshness to the predictability. The acting duties seem pretty secure falling into the hands of these two actors. It should make for a pleasantly high-quality film.
Funny People (July 31) – Okay, so the latest comedy written and directed by Judd Apatow and starring Adam Sandler might not really be one of the “smallerâ€ � films to come out this year. However, compared to films like ‘Transformers 2’ and ‘Star Trek’, it is pretty miniscule. Apatow seems to be bringing the same type of crude comedy with a heart of gold to this project. Sandler plays a stand-up comedian who finds out he has less than a year to live. Seth Rogen plays an up-and-coming stand-up who is hired to be Sandler’s character’s personal assistant. Hilarity, and more than likely some emotion, ensues. After ‘40-Year-Old Virgin’ and ‘Knocked Up’, it’s going to be interesting to see what Apatow has in store for us next. With Sandler on board, this film is sure to make a fortune, but, above that, it is sure to be very funny. Bruce Springsteen is rumored to have a cameo as a spiritual guide, and, God, I hope those rumors turn out to be true.
Game (September 4) -Â �Neveldine and Taylor, the directing duo who brought us ‘Crank’, made this ‘Running Man’-esque film about an ultra-violent multi-player online game. Gerard Butler plays Kabel, a death row inmate who has become a pop culture hero. Add to this Dexter, himself, Michael C. Hall, as the developer of the game who also acts as a high-tech slave master to the occupants involved. It is up to Kable to escape from the game and bring it and its inventor down. If ‘Game’ is anything like ‘Crank’, it’s gonna be a helluva great ride, and the two actors involved make it all the better. If for nothing else, it will be great to see what Hall brings to the role of an out-and-out villain.
Daybreakers (September 11) – This one deserves a little explaining. The German-born Spierig brothers return with their sophomore feature film effort after ‘Undead’ in 2003, which gets an awkwardly bi-polar place in my book as being both excruciatingly terrible and relentlessly, unexplainably appealing. Do you see, maybe, why movie #2 has taken six years! Yes, it’s a vampire flick and yes, it’s curiously familiar story does suggest it’s just another remake of ‘Last Man on Earth’, post ‘Omega Man’, post ‘I Am Legend’. However, if you’ve seen ‘Undead’ you’ll realize you never know what you’re gonna get from these two until you actually subject yourself to the experience. The story takes place in 2017 after a plague has turned nearly every human into vampires. As the blood supply grows increasingly scarce, a researcher works with a band of bloodsuckers to try and save humankind. The cast includes Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill… how cool is that?
Whiteout (September 11) – Once again, we find another temporarily absent filmmaker on this list. Dominic Sena returns with his first feature film since ‘Swordfish’ in 2001. In my opinion, the guy knows action as he proved to me with the remake of ‘Gone in Sixty Seconds’, but does he know crime-thriller? The story is fairly simple, but the brilliance of the idea thrives in this simplicity. The story involves a U.S. Marshall tracking a serial killer in Antarctica as the sun is about to set for six months. That’s it, but it’s perfect! Oh, and did I mention Kate Beckinsale plays the Marshall? The cast also includes veteran actor Tom Skerritt.
Zombieland (October 9) – Let me specify… this is NOT the horror-comedy everyone has heard about starring Woody Harrelson. No, while it has appeal, it does come out until 2010. This ‘Zombieland’ is a much smaller production from indie filmmaker James L. Frachon and will be shot on location in France. The story follows a retired funeral director who turns an old funeral home into a twisted attraction of terror. Part wax museum, part haunted house, this morbid museum uses the “real thing” instead of props and dummies. I hear you. It’s not the most original sounding story, but it is French and it stars Brad Dourif, so I found myself interested. On a side note, Laurent Chalet is set as cinematographer. He shot ‘March of the Penguins’.
The Box (November 6) -Â �After the expansive looks at sci-fi with ‘Donnie Darko’ and ‘Southland Tales’, the latter of which I loved, by the way, it’s gonna be interesting to see what writer/director Richard Kelly will do with a more straightforward story. This one involves a suburban couple (Cameron Diaz & James Marsden) who find themselves in the possession of a wooden box. The box has a button. If they push the button, they will be $1 million richer, but they will also instantly kill another human being somewhere in the world. This one has the potential of being a very intense story that ranks among the best Twilight Zone episodes.
The Lovely Bones (December 11) – Peter Jackson. Peter Jackson. Peter Jackson! Come on, do I really need to say anything else? Fine, so maybe you’re not as big a Peter Jackson fan as I am, but the tales of controversy, rumors and obstacles in making this film must make you curious. The story centers on a young girl who was murdered and now watches from the afterlife over both her family and her killer. She struggles to weigh her thirst for vengeance with her desire to see her family heal. For those of you unfamiliar with Jackson’s work outside of Middle Earth, I recommend viewing ‘Heavenly Creatures’ to fully understand what Jackson can do with a touching story and a different kind of beautiful photography. The cast includes Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Saoirse Ronan and Michael Imperioli.
25/8 (TBA) -‘25/8’ is the first original horror script Wes Craven has written since ‘New Nightmare’ back in ’94. This film involves a serial killer who turns up 15 years after his supposed death. He sets out to kill the seven children who were born on the same night he allegedly died. It will be good to see Craven get back to his horror-directing roots. Hopefully this is better than ‘Cursed’ and the last two ‘Scream’ movies. It certainly sounds more appealing.
Crows Zero II/Yatterman (TBA) -Â �Takashi Miike is arguably the most prolific filmmaker working today. Next year, he has two films coming out. ‘Crows Zero II’ is the follow-up to his 2007 film about a school where the children don’t learn math or geometry. They create warring factions where the top fighters have free-run of the school and everyone in it. ‘Yatterman’ is the big-screen adaptation of the Anime series about a villainous gang who seek a large sum of gold and the righteous duo who stand in their way. Hopefully, we’ll get at least one of these released here in the states. With a slight miracle, we’ll get them both. They are both currently set for release only in Japan, but Miike’s direction is so spectacular, it’s almost worth the price of a plane ticket.
Ong-Bak 2 (TBA) -Â �The Muay Thai badass, Tony Jaa, comes back to star in and co-direct this prequel to ‘Ong-Bank: Muary Thai Warrior’. After severe negotiations with the Weinstein Company and Sahamongkol Films, a lot of arduous filming, and even a mysterious disappearance by Jaa, ‘Ong-Bak 2’ is finally getting released. ‘Ong-Bak’ was one of the most impressive martial arts films to come around in a long time, and it made a star of Jaa. It will be interesting to see what he has up his sleeve for this film. As long as there are plenty of flying elbows and knees, I’ll be a happy camper.
Riot (TBA) -Â �It’s been nearly eight years since John Carpenter had a film in theaters. That was ‘Ghosts of Mars’, but we won’t hold that against him too much. With ‘Riot’, he returns to his ‘Assault on Precinct 13’ subject matter. The film is about a prison riot and the teenager who is gets swept up in it while he is at the prison under the Scared Straight program. Nicolas Cage stars as one of the inmates who helps the teenager survive. Since his last theatrical film, Carpenter has directed two short films for the Masters of Horror series. ‘Cigarette Burns’ was the best thing he has directed in almost 20 years. ‘Pro Life’ was nearly unwatchable. Hopefully ‘Riot’ is more the former than the latter.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (TBA) – Edgar Wright’s latest is based on a series of black-and-white graphic novels about Scott Pilgrim, a slacker and wannabe-rock star who plays bass for the band Sex Bom-Omb (yeah, it’s a Super Mario reference). After falling in love with a delivery girl for Amazon.ca, Scott realizes that the girl has seven evil ex-boyfriends, each of whom have special powers such as vegan psychic powers and the ability to summon Demon Hipster Girls at will. Comedy, action, romance. This film is going to have something for everyone, something Wright seems to be able to pull off really well. Wright is filming this live-action, but I can’t help but think it would probably be better played out in animation. Regardless, this is a great premise, and it is always something to look forward to whenever Wright has his hand in it. Michael Cera has signed on to play the title character.
Thirst (TBA) - Chan-wook Park, the legendary Korean director of ‘Oldboy’, returns with his take on the vampire flick. The story follows Sang-hyun, a highly-respected priest of a small town who volunteers in a hospital. There’s a new infectious disease spreading and Sang-hyun agrees to participate in an experimental vaccination development program. The vaccination fails and he is infected, but later is miraculously cured. Upon news of this, people flock to Sang-hyun believing he has the divine gift of healing. Sang-hyun meets a childhood friend and his wife, leading to his having a secret affair with her before he suddunly dies and then wakes the next morning as a vampire. If you’ve seen Park’s vengeance trilogy, then you know you’re in for great filmmaking. If not, well… you’re simply missing out. What are you waiting for?

Tyler Durden is best movie character in film…

Scott — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:05:36 +0000

Empire is making lists like your mom makes your breakfast in the morning, and this time they did the “100 Greatest Movie Characters” and my favorite movie character tops the list… Tyler Durden! I know that some people will throw a fit over this pick, I can see why. However I absolutely love it and think its a well deserving character. Here is their reasoning behind his pick as #1:

Why He’s On The List: Tyler Durden is not a nice man. He’ll pee in your soup, sleep with your girl, make soap out of your fat and bombs out of your soap, and beat you to a pulp. And yet he’s just been voted, against all the odds, the greatest movie character of all time. In truth, it’s not hard to see why – for Durden, as created by Brad Pitt, encapsulates that old saying about Bond, “men want to be him, women want to bed him” more perfectly than perhaps even Bond. He’s effortlessly stylish, unshakeably cool, and dangerously charismatic. He’s a rock star god, a natural-born leader, a trend-setter. He is unrestrained id, he is a monster, he is the very image of modern man (or at least how modern man would like to see himself). He looks like what you want to like, he fucks like you want to fuck, and he is an utterly indelible creation. No. 1? He deserves it, and then some.

Here are some others that round out the top 25:

1. Tyler Durden – Fight Club
2. Darth Vader – the Star Wars hexology
3. The Joker – The Dark Knight
4. Han Solo – the Star Wars hexology
5. Hannibal Lecter – the Hannibal Lecter series
6. Indiana Jones – the Indiana Jones trilogy (yeah, I said trilogy)
7. The Dude – The Big Lebowski
8. Captain Jack Sparrow – the Pirates of the Caribean series
9. Ellen Ripley – the Alien series
10. Vito Corleone – The Godfather
11. James Bond – the James Bond series
12. John McClane – the Die Hard series
13. Gollum – the Lord of the Rings trilogy
14. The Terminator – the Terminator series
15. Ferris Bueller – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
16. Neo – the Matrix trilogy
17. Hans Gruber – Die Hard
18. Travis Bickle – Taxi Driver
19. Jules Winnfield – Pulp Fiction
20. Forrest Gump
21. Michael Corleone – the Godfather trilogy
22. Ellis “Redâ€ � Redding – The Shawshank Redemption
23. Harry Callahan – the Dirty Harry series
24. Ash – the Evil Dead trilogy
25. Yoda – the Star Wars hexology

I think Ash is rated way to low, and Neo way to high but that is just my opinion..tell me what you guys think.