Trailer for Julie Taymor's "The Tempest"

Well I guess I can see why the reviews have been so mixed, because I have no idea what I just watched. No, really, what the hell was that? The costumes look great and the actors seem solid enough, but those special effects, especially the dogs and CRAZY BIRDMAN BEN WHISHAW are all over the place. I really, really loved Taymor's last stab at Shakespeare (Titus) so my hopes were pretty high for this one, but this trailer really isn't doing a lot to bolster my excitement in the face of the reviews.

Epic first poster for Julie Taymor's "The Tempest"

I know it sounds silly to say that a poster has "energy" to it, but I really like the feeling that this poster gives off. I'm pretty enamored with Taymor's previous big screen treatment of the Bard (Titus), so here's hope that she brings the same sense of controlled chaos to her creativity. As a play, "The Tempest" is one of Shakespeare's fastest plays in terms of the time it covers (several hours at most). So while I don't expect the film to unfold in some sort of 24-esque real time, I'd love it if the film's editing contains as much fire as the poster. The ensemble is terrific (despite Geoffrey Rush and Jeremy Irons' departures from the cast), led by the generally reliable Helen Mirren. Mirren is just about everywhere this year on screen, so here's hoping that this is one of the projects that sticks when it arrives in theaters this December.

Bad timing...

So apparently the past two and a half weeks were simply overloaded with cinema related goodness, all of which I had to wait until now to figure out about (I'm sure there's still some significant new casting news/trailer/etc... I haven't seen yet), because trying to translate those articles in German was giving me a headache. Since there's too much to cover in individual posts since it would be old news anyway), I'll just throw in a few quick thoughts about the most eye-catching things that appeared while I was in Germany:

The Miral trailer: A bit uneven (it should be shorter), but very interesting, though I'm going to have a hard time adjusting to see Hiam Abbass in that haircut. Schnabel's background as a painter is still evident in the color scheme (the shades of blue are beautiful), albeit in a more subdued way than in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and it will be interesting to see how he handles this more-or-less two-part story (the first half of which would be oriented around Abbass, the second around Freida Pinto's titular character). The film will also offer a chance to see if the stunning Pinto can really act, or if she should stick to modeling.

The complete line-up for the Venice Film Festival: Black Swan and Machete are confirmed for a double-bill opening (appropriate considering Machete's origins in the Tarantino/Rodriguez collaboration Grindhouse), and Julie Taymor's The Tempest will finally see the light of day as the closing screening. Not making it to the festival? Tree of Life (oh, come ON already), and Rabbit Hole, which will thankfully make it into Toronto. I'd hope there aren't behind-the-scenes troubles; Abel Korzeniowski has been replaced as the film's score composer, which I'm assuming means whatever he came up with didn't fit with Mitchell's vision. Let's just hope the delay doesn't have to do with overall quality, though. A certain tall, Australian actress could really use a widely-acclaimed film on her resume right about now...

The trailer for Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch: is friggin' insane. Snyder's current film, the gorgeous-looking The Legend of the Guardians, hasn't even hit theaters yet, but that hasn't stopped the flashy director of 300 from working on another project. The action looks, well, extreme, which could either be really cool or headache-inducing. However, I love the idea of Abbie Cornish as an ass-kicking (supporting) heroine. She should have plenty of built-up rage after that Bright Star Best Actress snub.

The first round of confirmed films at the Toronto Film Festival: In addition to lots of big names (including big Cannes titles like Biutiful), this year's TIFF will also launch Guillaume Canet's Little White Lies starring Marion Cotillard along with Robert Redford's Lincoln assassination (sort of) flick The Conspirator and John Madden's The Debt. Festival circuit ubiquity Blue Valentine will also appear, along with a slew of foreign films, with a handful of more commercial titles, like Emma Stone vehicle Easy A.

The trailer for The Town: Ben Affleck's second directorial effort after the excellent Gone Baby Gone (2007) is set in the heart of Boston's criminal district, and though it seems plenty gritty, this first glimpse at the film does showcase a more "commercial" looking film, with gunshots, car chases, and exploding cars. The real hook here for me, however, is the cast, led by Jon Hamm, Affleck, and burgeoning talents Jeremy Renner and Rebecca Hall, both of whom are starting to appear more regularly in more prominent film roles (if you can see Please Give in theaters, do so, if only for the lovely work from Hall and her co-stars), which is a very good thing.

Everything I missed: Here I don't mean news, I mean the reason for this blog in the first place: movies. I'm nearly three weeks late to the Inception debate, and I need to run out and see Cyrus and The Kids Are All Right and hope that they don't randomly vanish from the art house/indie theaters in Houston soon (reassuringly, Cyrus was given a slot at at the mainstream theater near my house, which is a good sign). The much delayed and painfully released Agora is also near(ish) me, and only in one theater, so I'll need to catch that one soon as well. I'm also behind on TV, and have missed at least two episodes of True Blood, Entourage, and of all things, the impressively reviewed start to Mad Men's fourth season (and apparently Dexter season 5 has a trailer out somewhere...GAH).

Lastly: The first images from Aronofsky's ballet mystery Black Swan emerged. You can see the rest of them here (love that full-body shot of Portman in costume), but the image that caught my eye was the one below. Frankly, I hope Mr. Rachel Weisz f-ing loses his mind with this project, involving a ballerina and her (imaginary?) rival.

Julie Taymor talks "The Tempest" at Cannes

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Despite the collapse/resale of Miramax, Taymor's next major Shakespeare adaptation, The Tempest, is due for release in December thanks to Touchstone Pictures. Like Titus, Taymor explains that her vision is not necessarily grounded in a time period, but rather in what suits the specific characters. As someone who was blown away by how seemingly easy Shakespeare's prose was to understand under Taymor's vision in Titus, I can't wait for this film. Now if only some official stills or a trailer could make their way to the Internet soon...

First set pic from Julie Taymor's "The Tempest"

I could not be anymore excited for Julie Taymor's adaptation of the Bard's magic-infused comedy. Okay...that's a lie. I'll probably be more excited once I read the play (thanks, Shakespearean Exclusions gen-ed class!). Out of her three previous directorial efforts, Taymor has made two phenomenal films, 2002's Oscar-winning Frida, and 1999's Titus, based on Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. Through stunning examination of historical context and the text itself, Taymor turned what many consider Shakespeare's worst (or at least most unsophisticated) play, and made an enthralling, dynamic piece of work, combining sets and costumes from different eras seamlessly. Here's hoping that Taymor's second go-round with Shakespeare will be more like her first two features, and less like the beautiful-yet-sometimes-trudging Across the Universe (2007). In the photo you'll see comedian Russell Brand, Alfred Molina, and Djimon Honsou, each in distinct outfits (or lacktherof). Now that Taymor's films tend to gain a hint more of an audience, and her impact on Broadway has been felt, could this be a major contender for 2010's Oscar race? Or will it go the dreaded way of Bright Star? Here's hoping for the former.