"Anna Karenina" Trailer

Can I be perfectly honest in saying that "Anna Karenina" sounds particularly all over the place, even if it does have the potential to be wildly gorgeous thanks to cinematography by Seamus McGarvey and Joe Wright's natural sensibilities? I have a tendency to distrust films with Jude Law in the cast, which is no mark against him. It's just that they often don't know what to do with him. This seems like similar terrain, since Aaron Johnton is given more focus than Law. Johnston is an odd actor, and tends to feel rather too timid in all his performances. I know it sounds like I'm declaring war against "Anna Karenina" from the start, but this could be the boring period spectacle that the Academy just fawns over. In fact, I'm certain it will be.

TOP 10 SHOTS from "Atonement"

Welcome to "Top 10 Shots", our weekly column to get together, look at some gorgeous visuals, and reminisce about great cinematic gems past and present, so if you haven't seen this week's central film, I warn of SPOILERS and urge you to come back once you've seen the film. "The Avengers" is out today, coming out to much anticipation from the geek and normal community of cinemagoers. It's rather firmly in position to become a juggernaut at the box office, so it's a no-brainer to do something that mindfully attaches. For quite some time, I believed that to ideally be the previous Marvel installments. But I ran into something of a roadblock while going back into the Marvel canon. This may come as no surprise to anybody, but the Marvel superhero films aren't all the brilliantly shot in terms of singular visual wonders.

Despite having such a great cinematographer as Matthew Libatique on "Iron Man" and "Iron Man 2", Jon Favreau simply didn't have any direction for what the films were about. They looked good, but nothing stuck out as expressionist as "Black Swan". "The Incredible Hulk" was quite obviously a dull action fest with no visual inclinations. "Thor" is an absolute visual feast, but mostly in terms of concept art. Some shots stuck out, but it would be too greatly in that film's favor. And "Captain America" was a damn good time and all, but Joe Johnston has never been one to inflect major strokes of intelligence into his films.

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: "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."

"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.

Saturday-Sunday: Atonement

There are definitely quite a few films that I should have seen by now, but haven't, and that's probably the recurring theme of today. Atonement was a British drama that came out in 2007, and quite often I find that people point to it automatically as the definitive British drama. Films like Never Let Me Go and its ilk have tried to capture the same deep emotional spark, often unsuccessfully. The film is about an misunderstanding by a young girl named Briony, which eventually leads to her sister Cecilia's lover Robbie being arrested for a rape that he never committed.

The film is told through three acts, the first telling of how it all began and how Briony came to accuse Robbie of such a foul deed. The second act details the consequences of such, where Robbie, Cecelia, and Briony ended up in the four years since, and how Briony has come to regret what she did. The final act is difficult to describe without spoiling anything of crucial importance. There's a love story, as is the case with many of the best films, but it rests on much more than that. There's a great deal about how horrible things can be done by people out of the most pure innocence of their hearts.

The performances are nicely done, with the biggest stand out for me being Vanessa Redgrave, who doesn't appear until the film's final minutes. Saoirse Ronan does a nice job in the first act portraying such a biased young girl, who is almost cold in a way. There's a specific shot of her eye just at the end of the first act that gives me chills. Kiera Knightly does a rather beautiful performance visually and vocally, but it's quite hard not to like her in any case. James McAvoy continues to operate on the fringe of stardom, as he could easily become the latest Hollywood sweetheart. Wisely, he has chosen to keep at a distance from that particular path.

The cinematography is rather polished and clean, moving smoothly through most of the sets with grace. The musical score is just as elegant, with a recurring theme that simply never gets tired or cliched. Director Joe Wright has done fantastically for himself when portraying a British drama such as this. As the years go by, Atonement may not grow sharper, but it still has a sharp mind to it.