If your movie opens a film festival, it’s probably soft or inconsequential on some level – be honest. And it’s probably an even worse omen if your movie closes a film festival. You could actually double that equation if it’s closing South by Southwest, whose attendees are known for bending over backwards to celebrate geek-friendly … Read more
A boilerplate riff from Deadline‘s Pete Hammond about the Oscar worthiness of Alfonso Cuaron‘s Gravity was posted this afternoon. It includes a new video piece about the merits of the screenplay by Cuaron and his son Jonas (below). It’s a nicely composed look at the year’s mostly visually astounding and innovative film, and I want … Read more
Is 12 Years A Slave this year’s The Social Network or Brokeback Mountain? Will Wolf of Wall Street be this year’s Goodfellas or this year’s Casino or The Aviator? Will American Hustle be this year’s…I don’t know what American Hustle is or will be or might be. Nobody does. Let’s leave it alone for now.
A healthy percentage of HE regulars surely caught Alfonso Cuaron‘s Gravity last night, so what’s the verdict? My basic Telluride response was that Gravity is technically dazzling and audacious as hell and absolutely unmissable for that, but (a) it lacks the meditative depth and resonance of J.C. Chandor‘s All Is Lost, which is roughly the … Read more
Alfonso Cuaron‘s Gravity (Warner Bros., 10.4), which screened twice last night at the Telluride Film Festival, is the most visually sophisticated, super-immersive weightless thrill-ride flick I’ve ever seen. If Stanley Kubrick had been there last night he would freely admit that 2001: A Space Odyssey is no longer the ultimate, adult-angled, real-tech depiction of what … Read more
Don’t go any further exposition-wise than what this trailer contains. Okay, maybe one more trailer after this but that’s all. This is a relatively short “techno-thriller” about survival, remember. In a certain sense it’s a cousin of J.C. Chandor‘s All Is Lost. I would think Warner Bros. marketers would want to hold back as much … Read more
io9‘s Meredith Woerner reports the following from Cinemacon about some teaser footage from Alfonso Cuaron‘s Gravity: “It was quick and dirty, but completely terrifying. The only bit of information we’ve ever had on this flick is this one-line synopsis: ‘Astronauts attempt to return to earth after debris crashes into their space shuttle, leaving them drifting … Read more
Whoever attended last night’s semi-secretive Django Unchained screening in Culver City, all three hours’ worth, isn’t saying anything about it on Twitter. Or at least not on my screens. I’m all ears. There was also a preview screening last night of Alfonso Cuaron‘s Gravity at a commercial plex in Sherman Oaks. (Probably the Arclight, I’m … Read more
Let me get this straight: Alfonso Cuaron‘s allegedly groundbreaking Gravity, an IMAX-filmed 3D space drama that wrapped principal photography roughly eight months ago, won’t open later this year but sometime in 2013 because of competition for IMAX screens from Skyfall and The Hobbit and one or two others? That sounds to me like 2001: A … Read more
The great Guillermo del Toro told me a little something about Alfonso Cuaron‘s currently-shooting Gravity at last night’s Don’t Be Afraid of The Dark after-party. He said that Cuaron and dp Emmanuel Lubezki (a.k.a. “Chivo”) are again intending to push the cinematic envelope, although in a different way than they did with Children of Men. … Read more