Around the Inter-Web

Awards Daily: A plea to support good movies this weekend, as opposed to most weekends.
Buzzfeed: Woody Allen's biggest hits, unadjusted and memed-- where will Blue Jasmine land?
Cinema Blend: The current state of whatsits on the "Batman vs. Superman." Could Ryan Gosling be the latest Caped Crusader?  For those you care, Armie Hammer doesn't want it...
Deadline:  "Say hello to my little...wizard." Harry Potter helmer Peter Yates might be in the running to direct a remake of Scarface...
Empire: Billy Bob Thornton cast in Fargo, television show based on the movie.  Speaking of Thornton, the trailer has dropped for the long-gestating Jayne Mansfield's Car, which he stars in and directed.
First Showing: Miles Teller, currently shining in The Spectacular Now, as Reed Richards in the Fantastic Four reboot?
Flavorwire: Features top ten lists of all-time favorite movies from the likes of Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan...and Lena Dunham.
Hollywood Reporter: Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty will be the centerpiece gala at this years 51st New York Film Festival. Captain Phillips will open.
In Contention: Rates the Oscars hosts of the last decade-- where will Ellen DeGeneres' second stab fall?
MovieWeb: Christopher Nolan's latest top-secret science fiction film, Interstellar will feature every actor in Hollywood when all is told.
mxdwnmovies:  Three more Avatars on the way, and to be shot simultaneously-- yay or nay?  And will this become the new studio norm for franchise filmmaking.
The New York Times: "Stop Blamming Jaws"-- an excellent dissertation on why Hollywood's 1st blockbuster shouldn't be finger-pointed to the tentpole-y ways that motivate the current Hollywood powers that be.

The Canyons starring Lindsay Lohan

 Thompson on Hollywood: A defense of the much-maligned Lindsay Lohan film The Canyons (which opened in NY this weekend and is also available on VOD and iTunes.)  Can the film live down that infamous New York Times article?

Man of Steel

There's a sweaty, pulsating sense of pressure that permeates through every frame of Man of Steel, Zack Synder's exhausting reboot of the long in distress Superman movie franchise.  So strenuous and aggressive is the entire enterprise, the only summation that can truthfully be felt is an urgent sense of nerves.  That sounds about right, especially in the light of the difficulties that the powers that be at Warner Bros. and D.C. Comics have had in building and re-building their distinctive canon of characters to the screen, what with all the false starts, misguided behind the scenes decisions, and the general nerviness of an undertaking something so big, noisy and expensive.  After all, the superhero cinematic landscape has undergone a drastic coming of age since the 1978 Richard Donner Superman first took flight, ushering in an era of comic book extravaganzas.  The movies have gotten bigger, grander and grittier, distilling real world terrors with their iconography.  There's a quivering notion walking into Man of Steel on whether there's still a place for Superman in this landscape after all, is he, the beloved grandfather of them all still relevant in a post- 9/11 superhero climate?

Man of Steel hasn't quite successfully answered that question, but for a movie that's as utterly watchable as it frustrating, one that for every satisfying moment or performance or tiny nook to cling to fails to satisfy as a whole, it does try in earnest to alter the cinematic impression of it's iconic character, now celebrating his seventy-fifth year of preserving truth, justice and the American way.  With Christopher Nolan serving as maestro after his unqualified success at rebuilding Batman from the flamboyant throes of self-parody, and with a screenplay by David S. Goyer, the intention is that Man of Steel will, of course, rear Superman out of the dusty cob-webs of his past and flesh out the character and the broader universe that contains him-- you know, and show up all those Marvel guys and their billion dollar success stories.

The result is frantic, over-bloated and sadly, under-nourished.  That pressure culminates in a lot of movie, one of excess and such over-the-top massive-ness, that the ingredient that's forgotten is the fun, the thrilling lure and unabashed glee of popcorn entertainment exciting the senses and taking flight.  Instead it's more of a connect-the-dots action film where point A leads to nothing more than grandly executed bits of explosive point B nonsense.  It's all a bit of a shame, for the smaller moments (what few there are to begin with) of Man of Steel are capably performed that given just a bit more time to properly jell or the tiniest hint of subtlety, this Superman may have been given a chance to soar emotionally just as does through the air so adroitly.  Instead the film is distinctly mechanical, a bit cold, and ironically, while trying to distill more of a sense of a real world to surround the man and superman reverts itself into something all the more shallow and cartoonish by forgetting the most valuable thing any film needs: a beating heart.

The Dark Knight Rises Teaser

Shivers...as the "epic conclusion" to Christopher Nolan's mythic revamp of the Batman saga rears.  Or as it may be referred to as the mini-Inception reunion (really Joseph Gordon Levitt, Tom Hardy and Marion Cotillard all join the illustrious ranks.)  I do however have a worry here, perhaps out of nowhere, or a mere way of calming over-excited nerves, as The Dark Knight is surely a hard act to follow, if not an impossible one.  Also concerns over the more star-studded ensemble at hand...the three top drawer talents mentioned earlier also includes Anne Hathaway, Juno Temple, and but of course, the formidable crew of the past.  I have an over-crowded Spider-man 3 knee jerk reaction.  NOOOO!

Trailer looks cool, though!

Following

In memory of Inception's awesome second weekend hold at the box office (off a mere 32% from its opening, an un-heard of event in big movie\tentpole land) and also with some time to kill, I viewed Christopher Nolan's first feature the Brit crime thriller Following, a crafty little noir from 1998.  The look and scope is small, but the nimble and amusing storytelling and non-linear structure of Following serves as a nice introduction to the present day Nolan creations.  The film uses elements that Nolan continually revisits; here, not unlike Inception, it's a heist film, but an atypical one.  We meet a young writer with no name (played by Jeremy Theobald) whose a bit of loner, with shaggy hair who follows people.  The motivations aren't particularly clear why, but he scopes people out and journeys with them in secret on their day, perhaps because he's devoid of any journey in his life.  One such guy turns out to be burglar.  His name is Cobb, not unlike Inception's main character, and is delightfully played by Alex Haw in what is sadly his only credit.  Cobb recruits the young writer to break into peoples houses with him.  From the beginning of Cobb's entrance, I was instantly reminded of Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train-- I'm not quite sure it's a relevant companion film, but memories are important here, as well with Nolan film discussion.

As with most of Nolan's later films, there's rules set out on the onset, obviously meant to be broken later.  Cobb details that the point of the his break-ins is not so much what is taken, but in that the burglarized people will appreciate more once something is gone.  The film goes down a fairly convoluted path, but it's exciting and quite intricate.  The film is available on Netflix instant play and I recommend it.  Shot in beautiful black and white, this nifty, made on the extremely cheap film is actually quite sophisticated, finely displaying Nolan's expert handling of pace and control. 

One thing that is apparent on his debut is the insignificance of female characters in any way.  I do wish that this changes as Nolan continues to awe and delight.  There's a female character in Following, and she is well played by Lucy Russell (Eric Rohmer fans will recognize her from The Lady and the Duke).  However, it's a fairly icy and flimsy character, and more than a bit familiar.  The trait has nastily been exhibited in Memento, Insomnia, the Batman flicks, and while I dare say I enjoyed Marion Cottilard and Ellen Page in Inception, the criticism is still fairly apt.

Of course one of his wonderful traits is exhibited as well-- he's a master at the art of the mindfuck.  While the reveal in Following isn't nearly as intricate or head-spinning as Memento, where the ante was raising mightily, or Inception; there's a trap for the young writer, and it's a good one.  Watching Following is almost like watching the birth of something great; I wish I saw it before he became so mind-blowingly popular, so I could authentically experience the film, without the reputation surrounding it.  However, it's still a fresh, brisk (very brisk at 70 minutes) film noir that serves as a great appetizer for what would come.