Day 2 at the festival started bright and early at 8:30am with WEST OF MEMPHIS.  I won’t go into the film now, you can check out the full review at the previous link, but it really is a terribly frustrating story that will leave you questioning whether justice was served. After the at-dawn screening, the snow started to come down hard and I found refuge at the Yarrow Hotel.

See below for some blurbs on all the films seen on Day 2, and further info about full reviews.

After a quick bite, I made my way back to the theater for Sean Penn’s THIS MUST BE THE PLACE. From filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo), THIS MUST BE THE PLACE is an oddball film about a bored-out rocker who goes on a coming-of-age story to find his father’s Holocaust executioner. While waiting on line for the film I met the talented Stephen Pizzello, executive editor of American Cinematographer magazine.  I enjoyed THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, a movie that gave me something I did not expect. Don’t read too much into the jew hunting aspect because this film is really a dark comedy.  Call it a pleasant surprise. See below for more info.

My late night viewing was the much talked about Norwegian film OSLO, AUGUST 31 from Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier, a film that was a late addition to the festival added as part of the ‘Spotlight’ series.  OSLO, AUGUST 31 won best film for at the 2011 Stockholm Film Festival and takes us through one day in the life of Anders, a drug addict given a day outside his rehab clinic. This film used a lack dialogue to enhance some major intensity in this raw portrayal about a destructive person who simply can’t handle life’s possibilities. Anders is played by the amazingly multi-talented Anders Danielsen Lie, who told a crowd at the film’s premiere that he is a actually a doctor and acts as a side thing. I guess his patients were willing to give him a couple months off to make this movie.

Day 2 was crazy busy ending around 11:30pm.

Movies:

West of Memphis – The terrible murder of three 8 year-old boys puts 3 innocent teens in jail, but sets in a motion an amazing story of public support. Written and Directed by Amy Berg, this documentary

This Must Be The Place – Sean Penn plays a burnt out former rocker suffering from extreme boredom (or the repercussions of drug abuse – whatever you think but doesn’t really matter).  If you crossed Edward Scissor hands with Napoleon Dynamite, you get Sean Penn’s Cheyenne. Moments of dry humor mixed with some charming characters made this a solid festival film.

Oslo, August 31 – In the first 20 minutes of this movie, Anders, the film’s star, said about 7 words. His face conveys all you need to know about him. A mid 30′s drug addict seeking the rush of his mid 20′s party days, Anders lets nostalgia consume him and pushes away all those he loved. This is a display of authentic filmmaking and gritty storytelling at its finest. Well done!

Day 2 in Park City started with an 8:30am screening of the much talked about West of Memphis. Produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh and written and directed by Amy Berg, West of Memphis is a documentary that followed the lives of the three wrongfully imprisoned teenagers, Damien Nichols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelly who were convicted of brutally murdering the 8 year old’s Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore in May 1993 in West Memphis, Arkansas.  The incarcerated teens were known as the West Memphis 3, and you may know their story from the three popular documentaries Paradise Lost (1-3). West of Memphis offers more evidence and testimony on the case, pointing a strong finger at one person as the assailant.  Nichols himself was much involved on the production of this film, and comes across as quite an intelligent and articulate person.

Berg introduces us to the situation by taking us back to 1993 and through the actual trial. We get a sense of a lock-the-door-and-throw-away-the-key tone to paint an accurate portrayal of those times in the small poor town of West Memphis.   A metaphor for the way the Arkansas state justice department desperately looked for a person (s) to blame and slamdunk guilty verdict combined with a public thirst for blood, the poor boys stood no chance.

However, this film takes a quick turn towards the road to redemption. Testimony from family, friends, the prosecution, the defense, the judge and other involved people, Berg tells the story from all those involves. Though we see opinions from all sides, it is a complete shame and embarrassment that a state department was able to try a case the way it did.  With a complete disregard for evidence and proper procedure, the judge and prosecution essentially abused their power for personal gain, costing these boys their freedom. As most of you know this story itself, let’s go into the new things ‘West of Memphis’ brings to the story.

In 2005, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, aware of the mishaps during the case, were stunned that the case had not progressed.  They began a close relationship with Lorri Davis, Nichols’ wife (whom he married during his jail time), to finance a private investigation into the case. There was also support from the likes of Johnny Depp, Eddie Vetters, and Henry Rollins, among many others.  With the added assistance, the case finally started to move along, although very slowly.

Berg brings a ton of things to light all the while showing how poorly the original case was handled.  Terry Hobbs, the step-father of Steve Branch, one of the victims of the tragedy, is clearly the focal point of this private investigation.  Beyond DNA evidence and a new deposition about that fateful day in May, 1993, the filmmaker obtained testimony one week ago. That is not a typo. The nephew of Terry Hobbs said that his father told him Terry killed the kids and that the crime is known as the “Hobbs family secret.” Berg quickly took the footage to the edit room and managed to get it into the film, premiering a mere one week later.

This sad story is important to watch. Berg eloquently captures the amazing turnaround in public perception for the three, getting Steve Branch’s mother to admit she thinks that Nichols, Baldwin and Misskelly are likely innocent while her former Husband, Terry Hobbs, could be guilty. The public outcry and change in perception is an amazing thing to see.

The West Memphis 3 were recently released on an odd plea called an “alford plea’ that required them to admit guilt but be set free at the same time.  They proclaim their innocence and are free men today.

This frustrating story will leave you questioning whether justice was served. And honestly, it just wasn’t. Amy Berg has put together one truely riveting documentary.

SEE IT

This is usually the time of year that theaters are flooded with big box office movies.  Unfortunately, that means that theater goers, like yourselves, may not get a chance to see every movie in theaters. You have to sit back and make a choice on what movie you want to see. Maybe you make a good decision, maybe a bad one, but you won’t know until you leave that theater.  Let me say that I understand this frustration and as such will try to alleviate some of that built up tension. See below for a list of movies currently out, a few words on each of them, and our rating.

1. Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol - Brad Bird uses Tom Cruise to create the most entertaining film in the Mission: Impossible franchise…SEE IT

2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – David Fincher proves he’s still got it with his latest movie, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo…SEE IT

3. Young Adult - The latest Diablo Cody/Jason Reitman film, Young Adult, may have done everything right!…SEE IT

4.  Shame – You may go see ‘Shame’ just for the nudity and sex, but I promise you will leave with so much more…SEE IT

5. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – Peter Travers says “In an act of criminal negligence, Ritchie has wasted Robert Downey Jr. in a sequel that eliminates smarts in favor of relentless headbanging.” Click here for the complete review.

6. Hugo - Hugo is a movie of two halves. While boring at first, the film delivers a brilliant and heart-warming story that is definitely worth the wait…SEE IT

7. Carnage – Roman Polanski delivers a film like he’s never attempted before…SEE IT

8. Tintin - Despite a Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson production, Tintin supposedly falls short of being the animated epic it’s being promoted as…RENT IT

9. The Descendants - George Clooney’s Oscar contender, The Descendants, falls short of its emotional goal…RENT IT

10. War Horse - Betsy Sharkey of the LA Times says – “The incredible emotive power of this horse and the way in which the filmmakers were able to translate it on-screen are what stay with you.” Click here for the complete review.

Peter Jackson brings us all back to Middle Earth on December 14th, 2012. At that time it will be 11 years since the release date of The Fellowship of the Ring.  In fact, two days ago (December 19th) was the 10 year anniversary of the Fellowship’s release and when Peter Jackson put Middle Earth on the big screen. Check out the trailer below to get a glimpse of the anticipated return to Tolkien’s world in THE HOBBIT.

The Hobbit is in fact a prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy and will be broken up into two films.

Click here to view the embedded video.

…in Europe.

I’m not trying to take anything away from the film at all; I want to clarify that from the start. I, like the rest of the world, want to make sure Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are able to stay successful. I’m worried about them. But, really, I don’t want motion capture animation to disappear.

The biggest accomplishment here is that the stop motion animation technique was such a success. Woo, animation. You get one point. Because after Mars Needs Moms earlier this year, the fate of the device was not looking so good to say the least. This was mainly due to Disney pulling the plug on their division. But also, does Disney need Pixar and another animation studio…? Greedy, greedy.

But I can’t say that this is necessarily a good thing for the practice. Not because I hate motion capture. Not because I don’t think Spielberg’s still got it. It’s because Tintin is time tested in Europe.

Why is that a problem? It’s not. It’s good for the movie’s international appeal. Tintin doesn’t come out until around Christmas in the states, which is really the perfect time for it. Family friendly movies do great around the holidays to counter balance the award focused depressing movies. But, it doesn’t have the same appeal that it would in Europe. Here, it is another re-imagination of a cartoon that is much less beloved. And, really, much less known, especially to the demographic that it’s aimed at.

When push comes to shove, Spielberg and Jackson’s seal of approval should catapult this into American success as well. So, fret not. Neither of them will be homeless come this time next year. But don’t expect this to save the future of stop motion.

The Adventures of Tintin features the vocal talents of Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, and Andy Serkis (who you may know from playing motion captured Gollum or Caesar from this summer’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes.)

This is awesome!

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part I, the final Harry Potter book, (broken up into two installments) finally hits theaters on Friday…or Thursday at midnight if you’re one of those fans.  The original film hit theaters nearly 9 years ago to the day (11/16/01) when the world of movie goers initially got stung with the Harry Potter virus.  Sure, many of those people read the books and were well versed about Potter lore prior to the movies, but quite a few people were unaware of the magic of Harry Potter.

Let me assure you though if you have not read the books and are concerned whether there will be closer, well there will be.  Lots of plot issues get resolved, answers are given, back stories are clarified and a look into the future may even be coming your way.  Though I can’t promise you that it will be included in the first installment hitting theaters on Friday.  I’m not sure how the editors cut the film and how they packaged the stories for each installment.  Much like how Peter Jackson put the Shelob scene in the beginning of The Return of the King movie, despite it occurring at the end of The Two Towers novel.  David Yates (director of the 7th HP films) might have acted similarly.

Anyways, this week is Harry Potter week and our third most anticipated film of Fall is finally here. ABC Family has done their part in televising as much Harry Potter as possible in the past few weeks, and yes I was guilty of catching the chess scene from the Sorcerer’s Stone yesterday morning.  I actually really enjoyed that scene and thought that Chris Columbus, director of the original Potter film, did a great job of adapting that scene to film.

I am one of those people who have read the books so I do know what’s coming, and like most Potter readers, I have my favorite ones and my not-so-favorite ones.  This is where for me Potter got interesting.  Harry Potter and the Order Phoenix was one of the weaker books, I thought.  I really did not enjoy the novel and the character of Umbridge irritated me more than Jar Jar Binks. I was skipping pages when she had dialogue.   Oddly enough, I thought that the fifth Potter movie, Order of the Phoenix, was probably the best of the films.  It was suspenseful, exciting, well made, and had my attention the entire time.  Yet, I thought Goblet of Fire was the best book and just a mediocre movie.   I can’t say the same for the second Potter film (Chamber of Secrets), which had me sleeping for various parts.  Ginny, who was a HUGE part of the second book, and basically no part in the movie.

Like I said, I feel that the fourth book (Goblet of Fire) was probably the best followed by the sixth book (Half Blood Prince).  When looking at the film adaption the fourth movie was good, but makers of the Half Blood Prince really dropped the ball.  They completely screwed up by not having Dumbledore’s giant funeral and did an overall poor job of grabbing my attention.  For those who have not been with us since the beginning of TheMovieBanter, take a look at my review of HP 6 here, you might get a kick out of it. Looking at my grade, I think I was probably a little generous. In retrospect, it was one of the films I liked less and less the more I thought about it.

I only hope that the final two movies do the story justice. I have to believe they will.

What is your favorite Potter book and movie?  Tell us as we start Harry Potter Week.

Jackson did spill in a recent interview with EW, however, the motives behind bringing aboard Richard Armitage, who’s set to play dwarf ringleader Thorin Oakenshield – sex appeal. No doubt about it. It’s ironic to argue this logic for a series so driven by story and character structure and building a real dimensional arc – but who could possibly resist a set of white teeth and a noble body? Jackson said:

“Thorin Oakenshield is a tough, heroic character, and he certainly should give Leggie and Aragorn a run for their money in the heartthrob stakes — despite being four feet tall,”

I don’t know, man…I hate to admit I’m getting suspicious as to what this script looks like. The Hobbit has been a task delayed enough to be on the cusp of a revival for the LOTR property, and seeing George Lucas and the Wachowski brothers fail with that over the past decade is all but reassuring. A Lord of the Rings movie sold on charm and good looks is like a dog balancing a ball on his nose while a seal plays fetch.

Jackson continues to say these factors were also behind the decision to hire Viggo Mortensen as Aragon and Orlando Bloom as Legolas. While that may be true, these weren’t cut-clear outlines of the characters themselves. I’ve nothing against Armitage neither personally nor as an actor, it’s Jackson’s openly deriving this statement like it were a larger part of the decision to cast the guy than should be.

For those who didn’t hear the news, production on The Hobbit was green lit and shooting starts in February.  Even better, Middle Earth protector, Peter Jackson, will be behind the camera directing this film.  After Guillermo Del Toro wimped out, Jackson was the by the far the best solution.  In my eyes, he was the only solution and should have been the guy from the start.

Anyways, production of the 2-part film has been slowed by various protests and blacklists from several acting guilds and in turn has caused another traffic jam on getting things moving.  Well, New Zealand doesn’t seem to be taking this quietly.  A video has surfaced that has been designed to unite New Zealanders in efforts to keeping the production of The Hobbit from leaving the island.  Check it out below

Click here to view the embedded video.

What do you think?

Keep Bantering

By now most of you all have heard the news that Guillermo Del Toro bowed out of The Hobbit. He mentioned that the main reason for doing so was that the project was basically in a state of limbo and that other committments had made it impossible for him to direct the two-part Hobbit project. Del Toro is most famous for directing The Hellboy films as well as Pan’s Labyrinth.  Unfortunately for him, he had moved his family to New Zealand two years ago to get this project off the ground. Thus, we can imagine how frustrated he must have been to actually decide to leave The Hobbit. Well, with this behind us many blogs and movie websites have started asking the questions of who will actually direct The Hobbit.  Before those questions and discussions go any further, I beg you all to stop.

There is only person alive who should be directing these movies, and his name is Peter Jackson. Jackson directed all three Lord of The Rings movies and lets just say he did a rather stellar job.  Rather than questioning who should direct the now director-less ‘Hobbit’, we should be questioning why Jackson wasn’t at the helm from the very beginning.  I don’t want to take anything away from Del Toro.  I’m sure he would have given a great performance, and he even mentioned that since he was a kid that he dreamed of bringing The Hobbit to the big screen…so we know the passion is there. But seriously, lets just take a step back here. How could Jackson not direct this movie?

Reasons why Jackson might not have originally been put in the director chair could be due to the beef he has with New Line management or just that he knows the full extent of making this film the right way requires A LOT of time and energy: time and energy that he doesn’t want to give.  I can only imagine how much filming 18 months straight and editing for endless hours can take out of somebody.  It basically turned Jackson into a Hobbit lookalike.   Today, you can barely recognize the man who accepted the Best Director award in 2004 for Return of the King.  Also, previous committments to The Lovely Bones kept Jackson from doing anything LOTR related. Perhaps he planned for The Hobbit to be underway during the months he was doing The Lovely Bones. I guess he doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. Looking at his IMDB homepage, Jackson has no current directorial committments.

At this point, Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson are almost synomous. Jackson knows this. Heck, we all know this.  Now with Del Toro gone, The Hobbit project has never been more in a state flux. For years we have heard rumors of certain LOTR actors returning to star in The Hobbit. These rumors fueled an entire underbelly of LOTR fantatics blogging about when The Hobbit would finally get made.  The one good thing we can take away from this is that the news of Del Toro leaving has taken the project from the rumor mill to the Hollywood lime light.  This is the perfect opportunity for Jackson to suck it up and announce that he will be running the show once again.

There are plenty of talented directors that could do a good job with The Hobbit (i.e. Neil Blomkamp and JJ Abrams just to name a few). However, there is only 1 man who could do this project justice. I know it, you it, and he knows it. It won’t be before long that Jackson finally announces what we will have wanted from the very beginning. 

What do you think?

Keep Bantering