For Your Anticipation: What in the Hell's A Bean?

Having already seen "The Secret World of Arrietty", I can vouch that is an absolutely heartfelt and beautifully drawn film. But I do take issue with the voice cast, which is absolutely ridiculous in the U.S. dub of the film. Casting Will Arnett and Amy Poehler in roles that were already perfect with Mark Strong and Olivia Colman seems more than a few steps overdone. And the random girl they found to play Arrietty is already proving more distracting than inviting. The U.K. dub wasn't about drawing attention to the voice actors. It was about fitting the characters, which they did beautifully. See the film anyway, but know that I fell in love with the U.K. version. Also, let me know if that Jonsi song from the trailer is in the film. If it is, that' just another issue.

Film Review: "Tyrannosaur"

There's a really sad story that's been built around "Tyrannosaur", and it's one that's been largely brushed over by just about everyone. The fact that it's been out for a month means next to nothing, as it's gotten absolutely no traction domestically. Within a few seconds of the film, it was abundant why. "Tyrannosaur" is exactly the sort of film the trudges along to a small distributor, because at least then it's getting distribution. The problem is that Strand Releasing has absolutely no idea what to do with it. The film is resting in the same situation that "Margaret" has been quite for some time, and somehow critics haven't been doing much for it.

Not that you could blame them, for a film this moored in bleakness and anti-popular opinion. Of course you don't quite get that inclination from the trailers, which strike a rather more eloquent note to lure viewers in on. They smooth over the fact that Peter Mullan's Joseph kills his dog in the opening of the film. What's his reason behind it? General rage that he takes out on the poor beast. It's not long after that that we gravitate Joseph's story towards Hannah, played by Olivia Colman, a thrift shop worker dealing with an abusive husband of her own. And, of course, the two find a bond with each other through their troubles. Typical right?

Carpet-Bagging: Actress Heavyweights Steal the Focus

I'm getting severely sick of the lack of activity on this site, mostly on my own part. It's just that nothing's been happening enough to talk about. It's not until November that things are truly set in motion, though I admit that things seemed to get going a lot sooner last year than they are currently. I guess it's a contrast that's telling of this year, at least in my own opinion. So I decided to get back in the game of guessing, though I've still neglected posting up a full predictions page. There's just so little confidence in the pot, it feels too facetious to make locked in guesses, especially with so much still likely to change, as candidates fall in and out of the race.

However, at least the way things are stacking up currently, the Best Actress race seems to be banal and dismal. One of the new writers at Film Misery, Casey Chapman, recently did his own sizing up of the field, which really drowned my spirits. The field is dominated by performances in films I have little to no interest in seeing. I admit to being delightfully surprised by "The Help", but I hardly feel like Viola Davis is either the strongest performance of the piece or the main focus. She'd have a stronger campaign for Supp. Actress, but it looks like they're pushing the far less likely Octavia Spencer for that field. Don't get me wrong, as I like both performances really well, but they do not belong in shortlist.

And then there's those who don't need to show anything necessarily strong in their films to be considered candidates, those being Meryl Streep and Glenn Close. I think I've earned the right to be more than just skeptical of their films' merits and strengths, not just in terms of their performances. In the first trailer for "The Iron Lady", I was frankly annoyed by Steep's overly fantastical impersonation of Margaret Thatcher. On any given year, I'm railing against her automatic nomination. And Glenn Close has been away for a while now, taking great confidence in this "Albert Nobbs" of hers. Yet her work just seems cold, uninteresting, plain, and dull.

"Tyrannosaur" Trailer

And yet another film on the seemingly insurmountable list of films I'd like to see before the year is up, "Tyrannosaur" made quite a slam at Sundance this year. While I heard a great deal about it, I still had no idea what it was about. And then this trailer came up to shed light on that question. I'm certainly interested in whatever first time director Paddy Considine has put together, but even more interested in the performances constructed by the wonderful Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman. When is this one coming stateside?