1) The great and legendary film critic, Roger Ebert passed away yesterday at the age of 70. If you haven't noticed, I have a number of links on the right side of my screen belonging to bloggers whose stuff I love to read. Ebert is the only promineny critic there because I found his reviews as personally relatable as those of the people I discuss films over on Twitter with and so on. I have loved reading his thoughts on the artform called film. Even something like the review of a Twilight film was full of so much humour and wisdom. It was incredible to see the love and respect for him from my fellow film-bloggers on social media last night. Ebert has been an inspiration to all of us. I don't want to make this about me but my dream is to someday make films, and whenever I have dreamt such dreams, I would also fantasize about Ebert reviewing them, because he was the best of the best. This is the end of that dream, which saddens me a lot, but life goes on and films go on and I'm sure that's what Ebert would have wanted. He will be sorely missed. RIP Roger Ebert.
2) The filmverse also lost British actor Richard Griffiths. He had appeared in Withnail and I and History Boys though he will always be Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter films for me. RIP Richard Griffiths.
3) Christopher Nolan's next epic Interstellar is to be looked forward to because of another huge reason- Matthew McConaughey will be its lead. Before 2012, I would have rolled my eyes at this. Now however, I think it's friggin' brilliant. His career renaissance is complete.
4) Tim Burton is also hopefully returning to form as he is set to make his next film Big Eyes on a couple of painters from the 50s, Margaret and Walter Keane who gained prominence because of their paintings of unusually large-eyed children. The script was written by the writers of Ed Wood which is excellent news. Also, Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz have been cast as the Keanes, which is a fantastic pairing. It will just be a delight to see both of these amazing actors together, but the whole story makes it that much more intriguing. And if you have seen these paintings and how frankly terrifying they are, you can understand why Tim Burton would be the perfect man for the job. I hope this film will be as good as it sounds.
5) Speaking of pairings, I am thinking of starting a petition for a movie which stars Robert Downey Jr. and Peter Dinklage, possibly as themselves. It will be fantabulous.
6) Shailene Woodley has been chosen to play Hazel Grace in the movie adaptation of the beloved John Green novel, The Fault in Our Stars. I think she will be perfect. The character of Augustus Waters is still to be cast and I, for one, am absolutely clueless as to who can play him. Woodley is currently filming The Amazing Spider-man 2 in which she will play Mary-Jane Watson. I couldn't give a shit for this film except it was announced that The Avengers 2 will have Spider-man in it and if anyone can make me care about the new Spidey (sorry Andrew Garfield!), it's Joss Whedon.
7) In other sequel news, Pixar is releasing the sequel to Finding Nemo, which will be called Finding Dory, in 2015. I am so disappointed in Pixar. They are supposed to be better than this. Dori topped my favourite female Pixar characters list, and now she's just another means for making a lot of money at the box-office. Pixar is one thing I expect originality out of. So sad.
8) In case you haven't noticed, and I don't see how you could miss it, my blog's been a little Doctor Who-crazy lately. Anyways, the current Doctor, who is also *my* Doctor, Matt Smith has confirmed that he will be staying in the show for the next series. Yaay! I was really afraid of him bowing out early, but I along with other Eleven fans don't need to worry for at least another year.
9) Trailers- I have already gone batshit crazy about the Only God Forgives trailer. Another awesome trailer is that of This is the End. I can already see "Hermione stole all of our shit" being in my favourite quotes list at the end of the year. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters looks like harmless fun. I'm going to watch it because one of my many husbands, Logan Lerman is in it, and also for Nathan Fillion. Carrie looks v. stupid, as was expected. Julianne Moore will be amazing though. Go Goa Gone is the first Bollywood zombie movie that I can think of, and it looks rather fun. Saif Ali Khan is obviously trying to emulate Woody Harrelson's character from Zombieland, but I like it. The latest The Great Gatsby trailer gives us a taste of what might just be a genius soundtrack, and the total visual extravangance that one would expect from a Baz Luhrmann film. I'm excited to see what they actually do with this. Finally, Wolverine is back and hopefully this film will be good unlike its predecessor. Still, Hugh Jackman shirtless is a nice image.
10) Finally, though this was released a while back, I hadn't yet freaked out about how amazing it is. This year's Cannes poster uses one of the most loveliest pictures ever of dream couple Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward kissing. I have been in love with this picture ever since I first laid my eyes on it. It's magical-
Goodbye.
Thanks for writing about what new Burton movie is going to be about, I only saw the headline before but this sounds cool, sounds like Burton will actually have to be a proper director with actual story this time much like with Ed Wood.
ReplyDeleteAs for Carrie I'm not even sure about Moore. It looks like she is going for camp approach and may be overdoing it to the point it's just a bad performance. But I liked this moment when Carrie tells her she was invited to go to the prom and she has this evil smirk on her face.
You are welcome. I really hope this one is good.
DeleteIf anyone can make this film bearable, it's Moore.
I love that Cannes poster as well.
ReplyDeleteI share your pain for someone who wants to be a filmmaker as well. I think every filmmaker's aspiration isn't just to have a film made but be seen by Roger Ebert. Now that won't happen ever. It is truly the end of an era.
It's a beauty.
DeleteThanks man. Glad to know I'm not alone.
So sad to lose Roger Ebert. If there's one critic whose opinion I valued most, it was his, even if I didn't agree with every review.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I have almost no interest in Finding Dory, but I'll give Pixar the benefit of the doubt, for now.
I'm with you on that Cannes poster. Love it.
Same here.
DeleteI know I will watch it, but I'm not remotely as excited as I should be.
It's a beaut.
Man, I hadn't even heard about Big Eyes yet, so thanks for writing up that synopsis! Sounds awesome.
ReplyDeleteNo problem. It does indeed.
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