He's a Hunter.

I interviewed Daniel Nettheim, the director of The Hunter for PopMatters. We discussed tigers, children actors, crazy weather conditions and Willem Dafoe. If you're wondering whether the movie's worth your time, it is! I'll review it sometime soon but you should know that Dafoe gives one of his most fantastic performances and that's a big whoa right there, no? Go read it here .

I Bet You Like to Walk in the Rain.

Don't you hate it when you're rooting for your movie heroine to pick the guy she'll obviously never pick? This happens to me mostly in musicals. I always yearn for Eliza to pick the lovely Freddy over the obnoxious Professor Higgins, for Giselle to pick Prince Edward over the dull Robert and for Maria to pick God over the Captain.

By the fifth time you've seen these movies you get used to the plot remaining the same, but few times do I cross my fingers hoping that this will change, as much as I do during Easter Parade. Why on earth can't freaking Hannah (Judy Garland) realize that Johnny (Peter Lawford) is so much better than Don (Fred Astaire)? Not only is he less of a sadistic co-worker, he's also not as much a misogynist as Don. 

Have you realized how women in musicals tend to have a thing for men they would oppose in social feminist dramas?

Don might dance better and sing better, but he does not inject Hannah with the same kind of life Johnny does. This is especially obvious during the scene in which they meet:

The worried young man sees a damsel in distress and literally dances in the rain to protect her.

If the Technicolor in this movie wasn't gorgeous enough, Johnny finds a lemony yellow umbrella (whatever happened to subdued black?).

As they walk under the rain the clever young man is able to figure out who this woman is by asking key questions. Completely taken aback by his insistence, Hannah asks "Yeah but you haven't told me a thing about yourself", which leads to the response which provides my favorite shot in the movie: 

"I'm just a fella, a fella with an umbrella"

I'm sorry but Fred Astaire never gets that smile out of Judy at any other point during the movie. This shot is perfect not only because it highlights that Garland magic we've all learned to worship but also because it shows the way in which studios were in complete control of everything that happened onscreen. The beauty of classic musicals is how they are always able to suspend our disbelief. Nowadays nobody would believe that a man who saves you from getting wet and curiously matches your outfit isn't a stalker. In the movies, it doesn't matter. This crazy array of coincidence makes for something our ancestors knew as "romance".

The way in which the strings swell, Lawford's voice comes out and Judy reacts with such joy makes for a scene that rivals much more famous musical numbers in the canon.

 Of course, Judy ends up revealing she loves someone else later but "Fella with an Umbrella" will be the song you'll find yourself humming for weeks to come.

This is part of Nathaniel's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series, go read the other fabulous entries here!

I Know You Are, Pe...

I make it my mission never to watch trailers - or to seek them actively at least - however I could not resist the temptation of watching the Woodsman's newest. All I can say is: I want it now!

Watch here.

Update: I discuss the trailer over at The Film Experience. Go read now!

The Lorax **

Director: Kyle Balda, Chris Renaud

The movies do no justice to Dr. Seuss
They always tend to overproduce

When adapting the doctor's works onscreen
Their way to go is big, loud...not clean.

The Lorax is of course no exception
Remove the magic, add unnecessary tension

What once was a tale of forests and preservation
Has now become a gaudy demonstration

The voicework is astounding, the movie unworthy
The characters are charming, yet dull the story

Not even the gorgeous animation
Commands the grown up audience's attention

Children will undoubtedly be entertained
Grown ups will leave the movie feeling drained

Seuss' wisdom was meant for all ages
Let us not forget the timelessness of his pages

But Hollywood has yet to learn its lesson
That "less is more" regardless of the person

I reviewed four Gwynnie movies for PopMatters, click here to read.

While Watching "Metropolitan"...

...and laughing out loud with the superb turn by Chris Eigeman, I wondered, was this movie the original Gossip Girl? 

Happy Fassboner Day!

The incredible Michael Fassbender was born on a day like today centuries ago in the place where they made those stunning white marble god statues. May he continue thrilling me us for years to come! Also, will someone please just give Shame to me, now?

Short Take: "John Carter" and "Wrath of the Titans".

If you thought Clash of the Titans was forgettable, Wrath of the Titans seems to have been made exclusively to steals its title as most forgettable movie ever. This time around Zeus (Liam Neeson) recruits his stubborn son Perseus (Sam Worthington) to save the world from his evil half-brother Ares (Edgar Ramírez) who has formed an alliance with Hades (Ralph Fiennes) to kill the gods and unleash Cronos from his underworld prison. As is the norm with movies featuring villains that want to destroy the planet, nobody ever really specifies where the villains would move to after the apocalypse, but who cares because you know Perseus will indeed save the day.

The problem with Sam Worthington embodying a world savior isn't really that he's extremely flat (which he undeniably is despite the 3D effects) but that he makes everyone around him become just as bland. Watch him literally suck the life out of Rosamund Pike, who tries as she may, fails to to make her warrior queen Andromeda remotely interesting. Worthington only comes off better when he's next to the obnoxious Toby Kebbell who plays Agenor, son of Neptune. 

Watching the way in which director Jonathan Liebesman cheapens the concept of Greek mythology, you can't help but wander in your head and wonder why has Hollywood made such a hard effort to uglify everything? When compared to the way movies were made in the past, in which legendary actors played supporting roles (everyone from Brando to Olivier) and Greeks were always spotless, you have to wonder if the filmmakers behind this really think that watching Perseus dirty will make any difference and invite us to identify with him.

Everyone in this movie is either dirty or looks smelly, which not only fails to humanize their adventure, it's also preposterous to be watching in 3D. The visual effects in this movie are also so unimaginative that you wish they would've just stuck to voiceovers to describe what was going on. Lucky for you, by the time the film is over you probably will have already forgotten you saw it, which might be the only truly divine intervention that occurs here.

It seems that unless your name is James Cameron, you should be forbidden from trying to emulate the wow factor that George Lucas introduced to the space-fantasy genre with Star Wars. Why? Because most filmmakers lack the guts to go all through in their visions of new worlds and instead of imposing a brand new set of rules, they adhere strictly to previous visual references. Reason why everything in John Carter seems to have been done, and much better, in other movies.
Taylor Kitsch stars as the title hero, a US Civil War vet who accidentally gets transported to Mars where as a Messiah he helps solve various crises, including toning down the violence among a group of four-armed aliens who regard him as a sort of Spartacus figure and getting involved in a civil war between humanoids. Of course he ends up falling for a sexy princess (Lynn Collins) who makes him wonder if home is where the heart is and considering that the film's original title was John Carter of Mars you kinda know where this one's headed to.
Directed by Andrew Stanton of WALL-E and Finding Nemo fame, it's rather surprising that the film feels so lacking in imagination. Every scene is either a blatant ripoff or an "homage" to movies like Gladiator, Avatar, Star Wars etc. and there's obviously nothing wrong with showing off your ability to stylishly reference other works (Tarantino has forged an entire career out of said gimmick) the problem is when you're excessively reverential or, eek, just plain dull.
Despite a superb star turn by Kitsch, who seriously does more than show off his impeccable body by giving Carter a soulful desperado vibe, the movie comes off as taking itself too seriously. By the time the characters are done talking about Martian myths, social issues and backstabbing, you have pretty much lost all interest in the fact that the movie promised you Indiana Jones like treats.
You can practically see Stanton's sweat drop down his forehead as he composed every frame carefully trying to show off his skills as a visual artist, yet the creatures, costumes and design in the movie feel lacking. The color palettes are arid and fail to arrest your senses. Watching John Carter feels like traversing a desert, which ought to mean big business for theater concessionary stands but just makes the audience wish they'd just get to the oasis and be done with it.

Grades
Wrath of the Titans *
John Carter **

Whoever Took This Picture Seriously Wanted to Impress Me...

They succeeded.

Style Sunday.

Prepare yourself to listen to one of the most clichéd expressions around but Kate Winslet is aging like a fine wine. Yes, she was gorgeous when she made Titanic 15 years ago, but ever since she's become one of the finest actresses in contemporary history and revealed herself to be even more lovely than we'd first envisioned. She was truly perfect in this Jenny Packham column to celebrate the re-release of the movie that made her a star. Even if the dress strictly follows what she's been doing time and time again on the red carpet for more than three years now, you can't argue about how flawless she looks. Perhaps she borrowed a bit from a Joan Crawford character - she did play Mildred Pierce after all - and the hair is out of a classic noir. Best of all might be to see her smiling so lovingly instead of pouting like a severe mannequin. She has rarely looked so vibrant!

January Jones, you, placenta-eating, children-scaring, Hitchcock redux, magnificent specimen of a woman, I missed you in last week's Mad Men premiere but seeing you in this stunning YSL dress more than made up for it.

Which of these ladies in black is your favorite? Did you miss January as Betty too?