"Prometheus" marks end of arrival for Michael Fassbender

I always feel robbed when an indie film star finally hits a stride of mainstream hits, and very quickly ceases to be mine. Michael Fassbender wasn't a cinder of non-existence at the start of last year, having had plenty more than memorable roles in the few years prior. His winning single-chapter stint in "Inglourious Basterds" was my first brush with the transformative actor, playing a charismatic connoisseur of cinema. Indeed he has taken in cinema of a rather wide branch, from his less known, but far more devastating work on films like "Hunger" and "Fish Tank", Fassbender is now one of the latest exciting commodities in mainstream film.

"Prometheus", which released recently to high buzz followed by declining critical and box office returns, does mark a certain climax in terms of this massive arrival party for Fassbender. It seems all too appropriate, given he's playing a corporate robot of massive intellectual properties who defies rational behavior to achieve his goals. The fact that Fassbender has had such a dynamite reception as of recent is some kind of oddity, though he has honestly been silently paving the way for a boom of activity that rushes him into the public interest. His work in mainstream cinema actually goes all the way back to 2007.

Film Review: "Prometheus" (*1/2)

I've received a rather curious stigma regarding my reviews of blockbuster hits that people funnel out to see with such urgency. It's inevitably been one of dissapointment, that I didn't have exactly the same reaction to a film that they did. As if it's some fault against me that a film was unable to live up to my expectations. I'm frankly surprised by the ecstatic responses people I know give to nearly every single movie. Maybe my disagreement is a sign of difference, but it's not one that I too willingly take part in. If I see a film and hate it, there's really nothing more I can do about that. Damage dealt. It's for that reason I was rather confused by most reviews on "Prometheus".

It really feels like people can't make up their minds on this one, which is weird because there should always be a pretty definite decision on the quality of a movie. Furthermore, my surprise doesn't come from heightened expectations, since I haven't even seen the slightest bit of footage from the film until it was in its finished form. That shouldn't truly bear any greater significance than having high expectations, since the only real expectation you should have going into a film is that it will fulfill the money you spent to see it. And of course I wouldn't usually go on this long regarding expectations around a film if "Prometheus" had actually met them.

Film Review: "Shame"

"We're not bad people. We've just come from a bad place."

I had gone to Boston to see three films on Thursday, and I only ended up with two. A modest disappointment to be certain, given that I'd been so looking forward to "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". It's been on the radar as a handsomely constructed underworld spy film, and nothing could've crushed me more than the first ten minutes of what I saw. Mostly because, I couldn't understand a thing of what they were saying. There was a 3 second lag on audio, and it was about 10 octave too low on the pitch scale. So I swapped out of that pretty quickly, and sent my attention to "Shame", which I had hoped would be my night-ending film, which it quite unexpectedly was.

I was already pretty well downtrodden in mood, having felt ripped off by the theater I had visited. And yet this was pretty much the perfect transition into Steve McQueen's second directorial effort. The weeks past have made several statements on what this film does right and what it does wrong, with many a reviewer drawing some issue with it. Fox Searchlight has been gearing this as an odd Best Picture stab, a fantasy that is unlikely to come close to reality, sad as it is to say. It's almost outcast for the NC-17 rating alone, as if the content that gives it that mark has no further relevance. What is most ironic about all this is that Steve McQueen's style, however radical, does skew oddly accessibly.

AWARDS 2011: DC Critics go for the odd nods

With the awards season in full swing, it's expected for things to start to form in unexpected manners. The DC critics have continued that trend which started at NBR, and we're really starting to consider which films are genuinely the main players of the season. Until "War Horse" garners a genuine win, I think it's becoming more and more plain that maybe it's not the frontrunner we all thought it would be. Perhaps it's just a lower tier player, as it wasn't able to even scratch past "Win Win" or "Drive" in the DC circuit. It's odd enough that Nicolas Refn's film was in there, and that alone sparks another fire in this awards season that's in much need of some personality.

"Win Win", on the other hand, I wouldn't give too much attention based on this nomination alone. If AWARDSit's a trend that continues on to other awards, we'll definitely take it into consideration. After all, if "The Help" is getting buzz, then we can more than expect to see more light indie flicks like this to rise up. You could categorize "Win Win" right along with "50/50" in that respect. A few more pleasant notes are that Fassbender made it into his first Best Actor field for his performance in "Shame", Elizabeth Olsen and Tilda Swinton continue to be of strong presence in Best Actress, and Andy Serkis and Melissa McCarthy are genuinely getting buzz for the supporting categories. In review, we need more critics awards to tell if DC is not completely off their rocker.

BEST FILM

- "The Artist"

- "The Descendants"

- "Drive"

- "Hugo"

- "Win Win"

"Shame" Trailer 2

Damn it! I'm crying again! "Shame" is still my most anticipated unseen film of what remains of this year. There's plenty I've still to see, all of which are listed here, though I no longer even have the slightest interest to see "J. Edgar". McQueen tops the slate quite easily, and this trailer just makes me even more interested to see the film. That delicious green band may say NC-17, but the film still looks like a film made for the mainstream audiences. I'm really unsure why the MPAA doesn't want <17-year-olds to see this. It's sex. It happens to any sensible human being. I think this trailer really tugs the viewer towards it by the chest. It figures I'll have to find my way to New York to see it.

"Shame" Trailer

This is exactly why I've been waiting so dam long for "Shame", and why I became so aggravated when it did not come to Telluride by the Sea. Steve McQueen is an artist, quite literally actually, and "Hunger" translated that skill so brilliantly and effortlessly to cinema. If you haven't seen it, your life has gone by severely untouched. The possibilities of what McQueen can do in the future are such a fantastic tease on their own, and "Shame" seems to serve as validation that it wasn't a fluke. He's here to stay.

Carpet-Bagging: Men of Lowered Confidence

If I'm going to be perfectly audience, I think this is one of the weakest years in recent memory for the Best Actor race. That might be because my standards just recently were raised, but I'm having trouble finding any of the supposed frontrunners in this race really that fascinating. There's a similar problem in the Supp. Actor race, but that's more to do with the fact that it's really anyone's game. In the lead category, I'm just having trouble putting much faith behind even one candidate. Of course, there is plenty of room for debate here, and we'll get a better idea of the race when the critics awards start hitting, but for now it's hard to figure this one out.

The nominees seem like the most easily assembled bunch, and yet when you look a little deeper below the surface, there's going to be a tussle for the nominations this year. Brad Pitt has had a ton of buzz recently for "Moneyball", but I'm having strong doubts that will last through till year's end. It's a charming performance, but I don't think that will be enough to eek out a nod. One thing that's important to remember is how elite these races are supposed to be, and Pitt just might be the odd person out in this race. I think it's more likely for him to get passion for "The Tree of Life" than for this, as well he should.

Film Review: "A Dangerous Method" (**1/2)

"Do you think they know we're on our way, bringing them the plague?"

I doubt a film so irritatively dividing of me has come along thus far this year. That much I can say with confidence about David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method". Across the film's generous runtime, questions of sexuality, psychology (obviously), emotion, compromise, family, and repression are brought up by the script, but oddly enough not by the film itself. By "the film" I speak of Cronenberg, whose work here is more to draw attention to the film than embellish anything about it. A line like the one above should just be one a group that stick out, but it's the only moment in the film in which you wish for something a bit more incendiary than what we received.

"A Dangerous Method" follows Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung, a budding psychologist following in the steps of Sigmund Freud, portrayed here by the more recently unseen Viggo Mortensen. Jung's passion is lit by prominent patient Sabrina Spielrein, with Keira Knightly literally screaming onto the scene. It puts things firmly in her corner as far as where our attention goes. The film very nearly begins with her first meeting with Jung, jutting her jaw out obtrusively as the telltale sign of her own mental instability. It's never stated what her problem is, but it's never really necessary either.

VENICE: "Faust" takes the Golden Lion

So how can we be surprised that the Golden Lion went to something I didn't really put much interest into? Aleksandr Sokurov's "Faust" somehow didn't gain my attention, but it got enough passion from the jury to grab the top prize. I guess I may have to check this one out, but my eyebrow hasn't even been raised yet, so no promises. Similarly, the Silver Lion prize went to something I hadn't heard the slightest bit of news on, "Ren shan ren hai". I can make a pretty solid promise I probably won't end up seeing that one, because as much as I go for things off the beaten path, I'm also kind of lazy.

That confusion ridden first response may make it seem like I'm disappointed, but there's enough to be pleased about here. "Alps", from director Yorgos Lanthimos, took the screenplay prize despite his typically brazen subject matter, or perhaps because of it. I suppose what may have repelled others is what benefited from Aronofsky's jury. Cinematography went to "Wuthering Heights", and there's no surprise there. Same goes for Michael Fassbender's Best Actor win, but it certainly got a more favorable response. The rest of the awards are many in number, and far too time consuming, so see those after the jump!

Golden Lion

“Faust”

Silver Lion

“Ren shan ren hai (People Mountain People Sea)”

Vopli Cup (Best Actress)

Michael Fassbender, “Shame”

Volpi Cup (Best Actress)

Deanie Yip, “Tao Jie (A Simple Life)”

Special Jury Prize

“Terrafirma”

Osella for Best Screenplay

“Alps” (Giorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou)

Best Cinematography

“Wuthering Heights” (Robbie Ryan)

Marcello Mastroianni Award

Shota Sometani, Fumi Nikaido, “Himizu di Sion Sono”

FIPRESCI Award

Best Film, Venezia 68: “Shame”

Best Film, Orizzonti and International Critics’ Week: “Two Years”

"Shame" goes to Fox Searchlight

Fox Searchlight has had such a strong way of picking up exactly the right titles recently. "The Tree of Life", which I liked quite a bit, but not ecstatically so, was such a strong vote of confidence that seems to be paying off to some degree. They've also got "Martha Marcy May Marlene" coming up in October, which I may be significantly more positive to. Now they've picked up Steve McQueen's likely NC-17 second feature "Shame", which is probably the more favorable outcome of the kinda-sorta bidding war over the film. It also puts chances strongly in the corner of the film getting a release sometime this year, so it's nice that we won't have to wait too long for it.

VENICE: "Shame" Reactions

This is doubtlessly the most interesting prospect on the festival circuit this weekend. After Steve McQueen devastated Cannes in 2008 with "Hunger", he's now taking Venice with his follow-up of "Shame". From everything I've heard and seen, it seems like McQueen is preparing himself a trilogy of entrapment. His recently announced "12 Years a Slave" adaptation lets on about as much, and all that's missing in that effort is Fassbender. That's something I can see being remedied in the coming weeks and months, as it clearly should. With Fassbender having played a victimized political soldier, followed by a more self-destructive character, I'd kind of like McQueen to put him on something deliberately antagonistic.

But that's just personal preferences. As for "Shame", I really didn't have any idea of what to expect from the reception. I imagined one of two outcomes, the first being riotous success above even "Hunger". The second, and as it turns out the right one, is about on even ground as his first film, if only a tad behind. I had no expectations of flat-out failure. Reception out of Venice this morning was positive enough, with main concerns being a somewhat soft screenplay. Telluride hopefully should echo that later this morning.. Now it's just a matter of waiting on distribution.

Guy Lodge (In Contention; ***1/2): "Like the finest filmmakers from a fine-arts background, he has a consistently rewarding understanding of the narrative powers of composition: abetted by heaving, tricky sound design and Harry Escott’s counter-intuitively soaring score, "Shame" conjures image upon image of such astonishing beauty that they’d risk stalling the film if not for the spare depth of feeling grounding the whole. The first of these opens the film, with Fassbender sprawled across his bed, his body as unhappily taut and angular as a Francis Bacon subject. He takes up the top half of the screen, a sea of creased cornflower-blue bedsheet filling the remainder: for its dense chain of trysts and dependencies, "Shame" is most powerfully a film of absence."

VENICE: "A Dangerous Method" Reactions

And with that yet another film is brought to ground level in terms of my expectations. As it turns out, not even the best directors are free from folly, and David Cronenberg has been somewhat due for a fall. That doesn't at all state my opinion on these reviews right out of the gate, does it? Indeed the Oscar slate has become bent somewhat unpredictably since Venice start, with "The Ides of March" taking a moderate fall, if only a moderate one. "A Dangerous Method" may be in a similar sort of situation, as the first reviews I really see are from Guy Lodge, whose opinion quite often opposes the view of the Academy.

So to do some further digging, as much is often needed, opposition isn't quite so heated, but it does give credence to my earlier theory that this would be a lesser effort of Cronenberg. Those hoping for something kinkier should've dropped those ideas off at the trailer. Much debate is already abounding at Cronenberg's skills at play this time around, some in defense, others in attack. Keira Knightley is getting the lion's share of praise as the more dramatically frantic of the group, with Mortensen right behind her. Oddly enough, I'm hearing a lot more about Vincent Cassel's prowess in a cameo appearance than I am about Michael Fassbender's leading performance. I remain on the outside of casting judgment until I see it, but these reviews certainly have me making heavy considerations.

Todd McCarthy (Hollywood Reporter): "Despite having to cover stages in the trio's relationships spread over many years, Hampton's screenplay utterly coheres and never feels episodic. The dialogue is constantly confronting, articulate and stimulating, the intellectual exchanges piercing at times. Cronenberg's direction is at one with the writer's diamond-hard rigor; cinematographer Peter Suschitzky provides visuals of a pristine purity augmented by the immaculate fin de l'epoch settings, while the editing has a bracing sharpness than can only be compared to Kubrick's."

"Shame" Poster

I'm not going to publish a piece on the films that are appearing at Toronto International Film Festival, because it really seems somewhat superfluous and wasteful. I'll be commenting tomorrow on the films playing at Venice, where all the real action should be. I'll also be talking about Telluride, because that's the one that most affects me. For now, I'd like to drop this poster for one of my more anticipated films of the festival circuit. I'm still not entirely sure about Shame, because how can it possibly match up to Steve McQueen's masterful debut, Hunger. Still holds my interest.

"A Dangerous Method" UK Trailer

I doubt that anyone is truly as oblivious to David Cronenberg as his awards history might lead one to believe. Films like Spider, A History of Violence, and Eastern Promises have put him on the map over the past decade. This year brings us his latest, A Dangerous Method, based on the true story of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, played by Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen, respectively. The new trailer puts thing further in Jung's corner than Freud's, and it paints things far more operatic than one should expect of Cronenberg. Blame the marketing department, because this is a misleading trailer for a possibly great film.

What's Wrong With Me?

I'm completely convinced at this point that there is something psychologically wrong with me. Of course, you have be somewhat deformed in the brain in order to get into the business of film criticism, because nobody wants to judge movies. People want to enjoy movies, and that's their primary goal. I wish I was stupid enough to do that, and that's not a put-down of anybody who goes to see movies to enjoy them. Being stupid is rarely a bad thing. It shields you from harm in a sort of way. You'll notice that no sociopaths or serial killers are complete idiots. Then again, that may be because they don't make for pretty great movies.

The catharsis behind this all is X-Men: First Class, the latest blockbuster on the block that has everyone buzzing. It makes me feel so bad about not enjoying it, because everywhere I go, I find people raving about it. My friends and family love it, and I just did not, and I feel I need further explanation of why. People don't step into a movie with a necessary idea of how it was esthetically composed, other than critics who intend for such. People don't realize that nearly every shot in a film has to have a desired purpose or reason. With that in mind, X-Men: First Class is clunky as all hell in intention.

Take one of the early scenes, for instance, where Charles Xavier meets Raven Darkholme. It starts out abrupt cutting of Charles heading downstairs, and it raises absolutely no suspense or unease. Then, when he finally reaches the kitchen, he jumps so oddly into accusation of Raven in the form of his mother. There is no sense of discovery, with the exception of a giddy look on his face when he sees Raven's blue form. It all flows too smoothly and unrealistically. The next scene depicts Sebastian Shaw murdering Erik's mother in front of him, and there's absolutely no emotional pit at that moment. No grieving for the dead woman. Just an emotional outburst of over-the-top visual effects, and Erik crushing two guards' skulls with their own helmets. That's the sort of scene you'd expect of some low-class horror flick.

Film Review: "X-Men: First Class" (*)

You know that you're entirely alone a specific viewpoint when your ride back home from a midnight screening almost abandons far from home for it. That's what almost happened to me only moments after getting out of seeing X-Men: First Class, the latest superhero film to be entered into this summer. It's also the fifth film to be based off of the X-Men comics, which yielded good results for the first two films, yet pretty mediocre results for the next two films. I'm sure that most people, after seeing this film, will say that it's a return to form, but I feel like this is the death of a franchise.

The film has a very intriguing premise, and that's a lot of what carried me into the theater. It traces the origins of humanity's discovery of mutants, as well as the origins of the alliance between Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr. There's a very international spy element to the film that makes itself evident from the offset. Xavier and his group are recruited by the CIA to stop Sebastian Shaw, a former Nazi with aspirations of nuclear destruction in order to wipe out the humans and leave the planet free for the mutants' taking.

I usually start by dishing out the bad and then getting to the good, but I feel a reversal in this particular case is suitable. The performances from the cast are decent, with Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and Jennifer Lawrence being the three main standouts. Kevin Bacon takes up the form of a lower class of scene-stealer as Sebastian Shaw. He does have a charisma about him, but I just keep thinking about how ignorant and really stupid his character is. He is a minimal form of scene-stealer in this film.

For Your Anticipation: I Wish That's All It Was

I have a slightly sneaking suspicion in regards to X-Men: First Class, the latest superhero film to arrive this summer. I know that most of what we've received points to stellar quality, but I don't quite feel it. Matthew Vaughn, while having made a few critically well-received films, is not a director who I admire at all. When I look at the execution skills put to work on this film, it all seems rather obvious and point-blank. I might be wrong, but as it stands, there's much I'm uncertain of heading into seeing the film tonight.

Film Review: Jane Eyre [2011] (**)

I have a very serious problem with costume dramas, in that most of them cause me to hate the very soul of England's history. Some of them have occasionally worked for me, like Joe Wright's 2007 film Atonement, but more often they are coldly executed with barely an inch of flair or liveliness. I had hoped that Jane Eyre would not be something like that. The trailers put forth the idea that it would be a passionate piece starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender, two actors whom I respect very deeply. As I settled into the start of the film, I came to terms with the fact that this wasn't the case.

The film follows the painful and depressing life of Jane Eyre, whose life is put in disarray through the cruelty of cousin and aunt. She's sent off to a cruel school where she is punished and scorned for no real reason. Case in point, she drops her tray one day, and is then shunned by the rest of the school, all except one kind girl, obviously. The depressing atmosphere of her situation is overly infectious, and it's impossible to be entertained or impressed with the film. As she gets older, she leaves the school in favor of life as a governess at Thornfield, a mansion owned by the mysterious and powerful Edward Fairfax Rochester.

Theatrical Trailer: X-Men: First Class

Against all odds, and there were a great many, X-Men: First Class is shaping up to be the most confident superhero film of the Summer. We've received a great many trailers for Thor, Green Lantern, and Captain America, each of which evoked a sense of worry when it comes to execution. I'm not really feeling a whole lot of red flags come up when it comes to this new trailer. In fact, it really gels in a way that the first two films just didn't. A lot is made of Bryan Singer, but the man is horribly overrated. There is some real conflict at work in this trailer, and I am especially looking forward to Michael Fassbender's performance. If nothing else, that should make the film for me.

For Your Anticipation: A Mere Conventional Impediment

Apparently there have been several screen adaptations of Jane Eyre, which doesn't exactly surprise me. It seemed like the sort of film that would have been adapted already. Fortunately enough, this is the first of them that I've heard of, and it looks sublime. Even if I'm unable to gather exactly what the characters are saying at certain points, Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender are more than capable of filling the void through emotional implicity. They're two of my favorite actors as of this very moment, which puts me ahead of the curb. They're just an edge away from stardom, Fassbender especially. The director could mean less to me, because it only takes a competent job to put this material forward, which is the sort of thing I expect. Even though I still haven't a clue how this unfolds, Jane Eyre is the film I'll be eagerly pining over while it's in limited release.