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Movie Preview: The Limits of Control

BuzzSugar — Sun, 03 May 2009 07:30:54 -0700

Director Jim Jarmusch comes from a fruitful era of independent film in the '80s, when directors including Spike Lee, Steven Soderbergh and Gus Van Sant were young filmmakers just beginning to make their mark in cinema. Where the others have gone on to enjoy some variation of mainstream success, Jarmusch has continued on with business as usual, making art-house films that often attract a cult following.

His newest film, The Limits of Control, is out now in limited release and stars Tilda Swinton, Isaach De Bankolé, Gael García Bernal, and Bill Murray. It's not getting the greatest reviews, but even when Jarmusch goes wrong, it's wrong in an interesting way. This film is described as essentially plot-less and simply follows a lone hit man. Visually, it looks gorgeous. To take a look for yourself, read more.

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Oscar Nominee: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button For Best Costume Design

BuzzSugar — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:30:06 -0800

As we gear up for the Oscars, I'll be featuring the nominees for Best Costume Design. It's a big year for this category as the films nominated represent several vastly different historical periods. Be it eighteenth century England or San Francisco in the '70s, these films include some gorgeous threads. Today's featured movie is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

No matter what you think of Benjamin Button overall, most agree that the movie is a stunning technical and visual achievement, and part of this is the gorgeous costuming. Director David Fincher sets his magical tale inside a sepia-toned universe, allowing the costumes to indicate the changing times throughout the story while the palette gives it all a mystical effect - as if we've dusted off some old photo book in our grandparents' attic. That is, until Cate Blanchett's character bursts onto the screen in a vibrant red dress or Tilda Swinton glides across a room in a luxurious fur. These costumes tell us the movie isn't just a window into the past but a vibrant living thing to be experienced in the now.

To check out the romantic costumes for yourself, read more.

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Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Sweet New Trailer For The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BuzzSugar — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:30:32 -0700

The new trailer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is even more informative and interesting than the others that have come before it, and I am so intrigued by the eerie whimsy of it all. Brad Pitt plays Benjamin Button, a man who is born old and ages backwards, growing younger as the years go by. As an elderly child
(yeah. . . that's right, I think), he befriends a little girl, Daisy, who grows older in the regular way, so at some point the two are the same age, "meeting in the middle." The story, along with the girl's reddish-brown hair remind me a little bit of The Time Traveler's Wife, the film version of which may be hitting theaters at the same time as Benjamin Button: Dec. 25.

This new trailer gives me goosebumps, a mixture of the good kind of chills and the willies. To see for yourself, read more.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Theatrical Trailer 2 | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Roman Polanski Film Gets Swinton, Brosnan, Cage

BuzzSugar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:41:00 -0700

Roman Polanski's next project has brought on a recent Oscar winner, a man who portrayed James Bond, and. . . a Ghost Rider. Polanski will direct an adaptation of the Robert Harris political thriller The Ghost, with Tilda Swinton, Pierce Brosnan and Nicolas Cage set to star. Variety has more:

Cage will play a ghostwriter hired abruptly to finish the memoirs of an ex-British prime minister after the first scribe turned up dead. The ghostwriter's research leads him to uncover skeletons in the pol's closet that put the writer's life in danger. Swinton will play the wife of the former prime minister (Brosnan). Her marriage is crumbling, and she falls for the writer.

This actually sounds like something Michael Clayton director Tony Gilroy would have done an excellent job directing, but obviously I'm equally curious to see what Polanski (you know, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, The Pianist) will be able to do with it.

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Movie Preview: The Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading

BuzzSugar — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:41:35 -0700

OK, now this is a movie trailer! The Coen Bros. latest venture, Burn After Reading, now has a red-band trailer (which in this case means they're using some NSFW language) and it is funny-goofy-weird-dark. Which is to say, awesome. The people in this movie are so fantastically talented, and combined with the Coens' dark and bizarre direction, this movie looks totally promising.

The trailer is a little confusing, but the IMDB plot description puts it like this: "A disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it."

I could watch Brad Pitt act like a total goofball all day.

Burn After Reading opens in theaters September 12. To check out the trailer and tell me if you think there are more Oscars in the Coen family future, read more.

Photo courtesy of Focus Features

First Look: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button With Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett

BuzzSugar — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:30:19 -0700

Some folks are already declaring "Oscar!" just based on this Spanish-language trailer for the eerie Brad Pitt-Cate Blanchett movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I can definitely see where they're getting that feeling, as the trailer makes it look like the film succeeds in capturing the other-worldly atmosphere of the F. Scott Fitzgerald story on which it's based.

As ComingSoon puts it, the story follows "a man (Brad Pitt) who is born in his eighties and ages backwards. A man, like any of us, unable to stop time. We follow his story set in New Orleans from the end of World War I in 1918, into the twenty-first century, following his journey that is as unusual as any man's life can be." The post continues on to promise "a time traveler's tale of the people and places he bumps into along the way, the loves he loses and finds, the joys of life and the sadness of death, and what lasts beyond time."

Whoa, that's a loaded movie. But if anyone can handle it, it's Fight Club and Zodiac director David Fincher. Benjamin Button opens in theaters December 19 (oh, look at that, right when people start getting Oscars on the brain!). To check out the trailer which made my stomach all squirmy, read more.

Link Time! 2/26

BuzzSugar — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:31:46 -0800

Deadline Hollywood Daily talks to Tilda Swinton's agent - you know, the one with the buttocks of an Oscar.
Popwatch seeks out answers to some of our most burning questions about this year's Oscars, like what Gary Busey was thinking when he accosted Jennifer Garner.
Give Me My Remote speculates about Karen Filippelli's upcoming return to the office.
There have been plenty of actresses who have tried to cross over into music, with Scarlett Johansson and Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester being some of the most recent attempts. PopUK wants to know what you think of actors releasing albums: Yay or nay?
Vulture checked out the screenplay for the Notorious BIG. biopic - and they're not optimistic.
The TV Addict gets excited for the return of Back to You by interviewing star Patricia Heaton.
Cinematical analyzes the new poster for the Indiana Jones movie, in which Shia looks like he "has a bad feeling about this."
Want to mimic Katherine Heigl's cool decor? CasaSugar found her chandelier.

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Oscar Winners: Where Will We See Them Next?

BuzzSugar — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:32:29 -0800

With the 2008 Oscars now just a memory, I'm looking ahead today to where we'll see this year's big winners working next. As a group, they have numerous projects in the works for screens both big and small - and, conveniently for us, several of them will be working together. To see where you'll see all the winners next , just hit "start."

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Best Picture Breakdown: Michael Clayton

BuzzSugar — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:33:41 -0800

From now until the 2008 Oscars air on Sunday night, I'll be breaking down the five contenders for Best Picture, giving you the scoop on why each film could win and why it might not stand a chance. I started off with There Will Be Blood, and today I'm turning my sights to Michael Clayton.

The plot description on IMDB is most succinct: "An attorney known as the Fixer in his law firm comes across the biggest case of his career that could produce disastrous results for those involved." It's screenwriter Tony Gilroy's first attempt at directing and he lucked out with some phenomenal talent: George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson - all of whom nabbed acting nominations as well. To see what I think Michael Clayton has going for and against it in this year's race, read more.

Why It Might Win

The Academy seems to be smitten with this film. Other movies in this category have already won many awards in other circles, but this is the first awards committee to seem truly besotted with Clayton.
Director Tony Gilroy delivers some of the best direction I've seen in any of the movies from 2007. The quick edits and artful alternating between storylines makes for a visually interesting story. I was particularly struck by the ending in which the credits roll and the camera stays on Clayton's face as he sits in a cab, his destination unknown. The attention to detail on Gilroy's part is impressive.
That George Clooney . . . he's just so darn watchable. Playing the titular character, he struggles through this turning point in his life and we know that though he was once less of an upstanding person, there's no doubt that he's the ragged hero of this story. You just gotta love Clooney.

Why it Might Not Win

Though beloved by many critics and, clearly, the Academy, this movie isn't particularly appealing in the general sense. Many people found it to be boring, confusing and simply not enjoyable. Every one of the other movies nominated for Best Picture this year was a bigger hit with audiences.
While the larger message in this movie has to do with moving from moral emptiness to a place of redemption, in general, the subject matter isn't particularly grand. Lacking a sweeping universal subject as well as much interesting action, it may not grab that Best Picture award.
The same reason that it might win also works against Michael Clayton: it's been nominated for several awards. The Academy might reward the film in other categories and hand the statue for Best Picture to another movie.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Michael Clayton Gets a Theatrical Re-Release

BuzzSugar — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:30:50 -0800

Warner Bros. has announced today that the George Clooney drama Michael Clayton will get a re-release in approximately 1,000 North American theaters starting January 25. The film was originally released in October and didn't do too well at the box office - but this was before all the awards buzz started up. Apparently the movie has made "more than 100 critics' top-ten lists." It also nabbed four Golden Globe nominations and five BAFTA Awards nominations, among others.

Do you think you'll check out Michael Clayton in its second theatrical run? If you've already seen it, what did you think?

To check out the trailer for Michael Clayton, read more.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.