Side-by-Side: Edward Norton

Last month, American History X finally made it to the top of my Netflix queue. The film was incredible, equal parts disturbing and mesmerizing, and Edward Norton absolutely blew me away. His performance seemed like the perfect reason for my second side-by-side post.

In American History X, Norton is practically playing two different roles, so there's no need to seek another film for comparison. He embodies Derek Vinyard as the reformed, penitent ex-con, and the enraged, xenophobic skinhead we see in flashbacks. Somehow, he made me believe that his character really could change that much and end up being so good and sympathetic.

First, the frightening (watch out, NSFW and potentially offensive):




Next, the pitiful, as we see Derek struggle to hold his family together after what he's put them through (same warnings apply to this clip):




This was just a great role for Edward Norton, and will probably remain one of his strongest throughout his career. The final scene of the film (which I didn't choose since it would spoil things for anyone who wants to see the whole movie) was just heartbreaking in his capable hands.

Lawsuit May Stall Watchmen

More roller coaster news on the upcoming releases front. First, Harry Potter got pushed back eight months. Then Twilight got bumped up three weeks to take advantage of HP's vacated spot. Now Watchmen may be in trouble that will shelve it indefinitely.

Twentieth Century Fox filed a lawsuit against Warner Brothers earlier this year for making the $100 million Watchmen without having the distribution rights. Fox says that they have those rights, and want to stop the film's release. Warner Brothers' request to have the lawsuit dismissed was denied by a judge this week.

With that decision, the fate of Watchmen is in movie industry limbo. These types of battles can bury films for good, but with a film this high profile, with such great potential to be a hit, my bet would be that if the case goes Fox's way, they'll want a cut of the money, not the death of the film.

Gearing up for the Winslet-DiCaprio Reunion

I was already looking forward to Revolutionary Road, the new drama that will reunite Titanic co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Now that I've read this Huffington Post snippet about Winslet's awkwardness filming their love scenes under the scrutiny of her husband Sam Mendes (who directed the film), I'm even more ready for the December release.

Winslet gave Entertainment Weekly something to look forward to about the payoff of that awkward situation: "I hadn't realized how much my chemistry with him since `Titanic' would still stick. It's great to discover we can just slip right into it, like muscle memory."

Nothing like a silly glimpse behind-the-scenes to get you ready for a new release.

Back in the swing of things...

After being absent from the blog for a couple of weeks, I thought I would ease back into things today. The Great '08 Move is mostly over, though a few boxes remain scattered around, waiting to be dealt with, so it's high time to get back to pop culture and see what I've been missing.

Like I said though, I'm going easy for now. Today EW.com had a run down of 20 Fall releases the EW writers are itching to see. It's pretty good, and there were even a few on there that I had no idea were coming out so soon (The Road in particular).

One of those exciting new releases appears to be stalled, though. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is being postponed until Summer '09 (hat tip: Perez).

Warner Brothers is blaming the writer's strike, basically saying they needed to shift around some of the big-money movies to protect their bottom line. That's a pretty crappy thing to do to fans, especially since this is basically the biggest movie franchise going right now. We'll see if this decision sticks, but until we know for sure it looks like we're down to Twilight for our fun fall book series adaptation.

New Trailer: Half Blood Prince

It's about damn time. The Harry Potter teaser turned up online tonight at AOL Movies.

The pacing is kind of slow. I was hoping for a little more action and intrigue, and definitely more glimpses at the other characters. It's not bad though, and I wouldn't be surprised if we have another, more in depth trailer by the end of August.

See for yourself...

Here's a link to the hi-def trailer.

New Trailer: W.

Ooooooh, this one's going to be strange. The new teaser trailer for the George W. Bush biopic is out, and the Oliver Stone film looks delightfully wicked. It's a little odd to see people that are still key players in the American political scene being portrayed in a film. Stone seems to play up that fact by showing us every single one of them, with a handy caption to tell us who they are.

It will be interesting to see if Stone sticks closely to the facts in this film. That would make the stronger statement, the ability to illustrate the oddity of Bush's presidency without embellishment, but the temptation to take liberties is probably pretty damn hard to fight as a director.

At any rate, I'm sure fairly scandalous tales can be woven from the lives of many past presidents and their life journey to the White House, but the decision to go after the sitting president is a pretty ballsy move.

Finally, news on an HP trailer

Looks like my expectations (hopes?) that a Half Blood Prince trailer would premier in front of The Dark Knight were at least partially correct. There was a 15 second teaser trailer ahead of the IMAX showings. Though, as you can see below, there's really nothing to the "clip" (which is why I was in no rush to get this post up).

The real deal, full-length trailer will debut on August 1st, in front of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Don't worry, I'm sure it will pop up on line that same weekend, so none of us have to worry about shelling out ten bucks for that hot mess.

Here's a link to a behind-the-scenes clip on HBP. Not sure where it came from, but the tiniest bit of insight it provides seems enormous compared to the teaser.

New Trailer: Watchmen

This one opened up in front of The Dark Knight over the weekend, and while I had heard whispers about the project here and there, I didn't expect to be that interested in it.

The trailer has certainly altered my opinion.

For me, the most compelling aspect of the trailer may have been the song choice. The film clips are scorching when paired with The Smashing Pumpkins "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" (two versions of which, perhaps not coincidentally, were used on the soundtrack for 1997s Batman and Robin).

Watchmen is certainly a mystery to me, something not really helped by the vague trailer, but the visuals here are stunning. The darkness of the movie certainly goes beyond the lighting. One of only two lines featured in the trailer is downright chilling: "The world will look up and shout, 'save us,' and I'll whisper, 'no.'" You get the distinct feeling that these super people are struggling with their humanity--and that's where the best drama is usually found.

Here's an EW story that sheds a little more light on Watchmen for those curious about the storyline or the characters, but I think the mood the trailer creates says enough.

Mini Review: The Dark Knight

After anticipating the release of certain movies, there is always that distinct possibility that they won't meet your expectations. That, thankfully, was not a problem suffered by The Dark Knight.

The film continued on in the same vein as Batman Begins, though the drama and the pathos were stronger this time. Christian Bale still makes an excellent rebel billionaire, almost more fun to watch as Bruce Wayne than Batman. The film mostly soars (despite it's loooong running time), fueled by the somewhat unpredictable plot The Joker's criminal activity creates.

In that role, Heath Ledger is nearly unrecognizable, even his physical appearance fading into the background. At first, I was certain that the oscar-buzz surrounding the role was simply respect being paid for the loss of a truly talented actor. But, even the shadow cast by Ledger's death was gone when he was onscreen as The Joker. The character was so alive, the total embodiment of eccentric anarchy, that the character stole the scenes, not the tragedy. The Joker is, as he states himself in the film, so much more interesting than any of the other super villains of the comic book world. In Christopher Nolan's Batman universe, The Joker is the criminal without a purpose, more terrifying than any other.

The only bad thing about this Batman is the pressure they'll be under to make the next one just as good.

UPDATE: The movie did even better than expected over the weekend, scoring the biggest three-day opening weekend in box office history, grossing $155.3 million.

More Twilight

This marks my 100th post on The Hollywood Minutiae, so it's fitting that the topic is something I'm a bit of a fangirl about these days. The second teaser trailer for Twilight went up today on Yahoo (and still a teaser for Harry Potter is nowhere to be found).



I think Film School Rejects made a fair point this week that up to this point the movie has not been marketed that well to those unfamiliar with the Twilight novels. Readers get to see the chemistry between Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, and know enough about the rest of the plot to fill in the gaps left by the trailer. Non-readers are sort of left scratching their heads.

This trailer gives non-readers a little more to go on, but only time will tell if it's enough.

Confessions of a PCB

Yesterday, Amy Wilkinson wrote a fun PopWatch post about being a Pop Culture Bully (PCB). I've made an effort on this blog to poke fun at my own pop culture indulgences that may rate high on the lameness scale. Some of the most entertaining pop culture is of the so-bad-its-good variety, and there's not really any point in pretending we don't like it.

That being said, since my sister is one of the half-dozen or so readers of this blog, I can't, without consequences, say that my inner PCB doesn't emerge from time to time. She can give prime examples of me as both The Manhandler and The Insulter.

The Manhandler is clearly the more forgivable of the two PCB personae, and can truly be used for good. I try not to foist my every pop culture discovery onto others, only those that are actually fantastic and seem to fit that specific person. This is how I was turned on to Arrested Development (thanks, Kimberly!), Vampire Weekend (thanks, Jenny!), and many other lovely things that I can't recall right now. Since others passed those gems on to me, I see Manhandling as my pop culture duty, as long as I perform that duty responsibly (just how Spider-Man would expect me to).

The Insulter, however, is the persona I try very hard to contain. The Insulter is my inner Mr. Hyde, lurking, waiting to attack my poor friends and family when they try to rent a Larry the Cable Guy movie. I stand by my loathing of all things Larry, but perhaps I shouldn't be so mean to my dad about it.

Let's remember that the PCB is not always a menacing figure, as long as the PCB is thoughtful, not mean. I'll be a thoughtful PCB right now, and send you over to Act One of Joss Whedon's fantastical treat, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. And click quickly, friends. The Sing-Along will only hang around the web until Saturday. After that you'll have to track down the DVD.

New Trailer: OMG! It's HSM3!

The latest installment of Disney's hyper-lucrative High School Musical Franchise is set for an October 24th release, and the trailer has officially landed online. This one is a little scary. The first movie was cute. The second was fine. The fact that they decided to transport the cheese-tastic series to the big screen just seems like overkill.

I'll admit that I have seen both previous HSM movies. I'll also admit that I have three of the songs on my iPod. But even I will not shell out $10 to see this. The basketball scene, when Gabriella and Troy sing to one another across the gym, left me feeling a little nauseated.

If this really will be the Harry Potter of the rowdy tween set, like Jeff Jensen at PopWatch is guessing, I think I (unlike him) may be avoiding movie theaters altogether the weekend of October 24th.

Holy Bazooka, Batman!

MTV Movies Blog posted this exclusive clip from The Dark Knight yesterday:



Nice to see the bazooka that provided such an awesome image in the trailer put into some sort of context. July 18th can't come soon enough.

New Potter pics released as we wait for a trailer

We muggles get a treat from the wizarding world this week. New photos (the good, high quality kind) from Half Blood Prince have been released, and they're kind of awesome.

The great thing about these pics is that they're conveying some of the major, important moods that the sixth book deals with. I'm excluding the picture of Luna Lovegood, of course. She's just quirky fun.

HBP should be fantastic, equal parts dark and fun, and the news that Ron finally gets to show off his mad Quidditch skills (not to mention the sight of Rupert Grint in that funny helmet) is enough to convince me to be patient until the first trailer is out. No news yet on when that will be, but I've got my fingers crossed for a July 18th premier, ahead of The Dark Knight. I'll keep you posted.

Nooooooo!

After the torment that was the writer's strike, the news that an actor's strike may be unavoidable is pretty depressing. I've been avoiding reading any articles that would share such news, so I'm not quite up-to-speed on all the details.

From what I have gathered, things don't sound good. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) can't agree on their goals for negotiating with the AMPTP. The divide only benefits the AMPTP, giving them the upper hand in negotiations.

The unions will be voting soon on whether or not to strike. If things don't work out, fall TV could consist of mostly reality shows and reruns, and the 2009 movie calendar could get pretty slim. Let's hope things don't come to that, and the 72% of actors who make less than $5,000 a year don't suffer in the process.

New Trailer: Quantum of Solace

There are three films debuting this winter that I already have on my calendar. Twilight (Dec. 12), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Nov. 21), and Quantum of Solace (Nov. 7), the latest James Bond installment.

The new trailer for Quantum of Solace doesn't disappoint. The action sequences look as tight as they were in Casino Royale, the story still seems grittier and more realistic than past incarnations of Bond, and Daniel Craig is still...well, hot.

It's difficult to tell what the plot of Solace is from this trailer, but themes of revenge and rebellion are good meaty territory for any action film to mine.

New Rules for Oscar

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided to limit the number of original songs from a single film that can be nominated for an Oscar to two.

The decision should come as a complete relief to anyone who watched the telecast this year. The cheese-factor of the ceremony was exponentially increased by the fact that three of the five nominated songs being performed were from Enchanted. I loved Enchanted, and the music was cute and catchy, but, no matter how much I love Kristen Chenoweth, the Oscars is not the place for this.

McAvoy Making the Rounds

Wanted comes out next Friday, which means that James McAvoy is busy making the publicity rounds. I hope that my love for him does not equate bias, but I must say he gives some of the best interviews in Tinseltown. Here he is on last night's Leno.

New Trailer: Religulous

Wow. This one's going to be good. I don't really know what to say about Religulous, a new documentary coming out on October 3. I'm sure it's going to offend a lot of people. Probably many of those offended people won't even waste time seeing it before judging it, but that's life.

I like that this film looks at all sorts of religions, not simply Judaism or Christianity. I like that Bill Maher brings his trademark irreverence to the table. I like that Gnarls Barkley got some play in the trailer. Most of all, I'm fascinated by stuff like this and I don't think I'll be able to resist.

Side-by-Side: Daniel Day-Lewis

Summer has finally given me the opportunity to watch There Will Be Blood (for shame that it took me so long!). As my mind continues to wrap around that fantastic 2.5 hours of film, I thought I'd do a post, possibly the first of a recurring segment, comparing two of an actor's roles side-by-side.

Daniel Day-Lewis is the perfect guy to start with. He just lives his parts. As I watched him play Daniel Plainview, I couldn't help but think of his work in The Age of Innocence. The two characters are completely dissimilar, but he has no problem selling either role. His work as the somewhat effete Newland Archer is only a reminder that he's one of those rare and greatest actors who can make you forget he is acting.

Here are two Day-Lewis trailers, the first for Age of Innocence, the second for There Will Be Blood. It doesn't even seem like the same person, does it?