SUCCESSFUL ALCOHOLICS

T.J. Miller and Lizzy Caplan's 25-minute short film Successful Alcoholics is online, for all of us to finally enjoy. It was originally shown earlier this year in Austin at SXSW to great reviews and great laughs, and I (and now you) can see why:



Miller (who also co-wrote) and Caplan reunite after working together on Cloverfield. Alcoholics provides a premise slightly more drunk and less monstrous: the two play a couple who have balanced booze and life until the inevitable collapse by the liquid fiend.

Hilarious and tender; it's definitely worth a watch. This comes courtesy of Funny or Die.

BLU-RAY RELEASE OF THE WEEK

(In actuality, this came out last week, but nonethless deserves to be mentioned.)


Blue Valentine invites the audience into the lives of Cindy and Dean, at two points during their horribly rocky relationship; it is at the same time breathtaking and unwatchable.  Dean is a nobody; a high school dropout who works for a New York City moving company. While on a job, he bumps into Cindy who is visiting her grandmother. They talk, they woo, they connect over song and dance numbers and funny crude pedophile jokes. Valentine takes place over two periods: when Dean and Cindy meet, and when their bond fall apart. The performances (career bests by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams) are what make this film so powerful. They are raw and unrelenting; truthful and filled with pain and emotion.

Much of the dialogue was improvised (my favourite scene was when Gosling and Williams were on the Brooklyn Bridge: Cindy is pregnant, but unwilling to reveal the news to Dean. Director Derek Cianfrance instructed Gosling that Williams was keeping a secret from him and he had to do whatever it took to get her to spill the beans. He then took Williams aside with direction that she was keeping something private and was forbidden to reveal what it is, regardless of what Gosling did. The scene went on for hours, no one budged. Finally, desperate, Gosling started to climb the fence and straddled the top, half his body over the edge. Honestly frightened, Williams finally broke. Incredible.) The cover implies this is a love story--don't believe it. It is a great, great piece of art; I was transfixed to the screen. But I never want to see it again. 

MOTHER'S DAY

I love mothers; you love mothers. Perhaps not as much as Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake, but certainly enough to celebrate all moms out there by assembling a list of some of the most memorable matriarchs in film history

Mommie Dearest

An obvious choice. Faye Dunaway portrays the real life Joan Crawford, who evidently was insanely disturbed. The source material was taken from Crawford's adopted daughter Christina; a frequent victim of her mother's abuse, such as having her hair hacked off while being laughed at maniacally. 

Mother 

Not the 1996 film starring Albert Brooks and Debbie Reynolds; instead check out the 2009 Korean title of the same name about a mom who must solve the murder of a young girl after her son is indicted for the crime. Kim Hye-ja, a veteran Korean actress, plays the part to perfection. 

See the rest after the break. 

KILL BIN LADEN

Kathryn Bigelow, who just over a year ago became the first woman to win best director at the Academy Awards, is set to direct an adaptation of the hunt for the man who orchestrated the September 11 attacks almost ten years ago. Bigelow had previously commissioned the film, but now with the long-awaited and timely death of the Al-Qaeda leader, the last act will feature the forty minute raid that ultimately ended up up Bin Laden with a bullet in his brain.

Joel Edgerton (Animal Kingdom) has already been cast as one of the commandos. A relative unknown, Edgerton's anonymity will surely dissipate with his inclusion in the upcoming Warrior alongside Tom Hardy, and the prequel to The Thing.

At the moment, Kill Bin Laden is (thankfully) a working title.

COLOMBIANA

This is partly written by Luc Besson who gave us Léon and The Fifth Element, so expect some frantic action and a strong female presence. Zoë Saldaña's character shares a similar backstory to Natalie Portman's Mathilda from Léon: as a young girl, her parents are murdered in front of her and later grows up to be a hired assassin. This could be two hours of Zoë Saldaña walking around all sultry-like in that skintight black number and I'd be there.

Colombiana arrives September 2, 2011.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

A crapload of character spots for Matthew Vaughn's X-Men flick have hit the web, allowing Havok, Banshee, Beast and Mystique to all get some individual love. Being a mutant aficionado, I'll be first in line, but the more I see, the more I like. My favourite is easily Mystique's due to the body acting of Jennifer Lawrence, but every one of them has something to offer. Banshee's introduction to flying, Beast's funky feet; not too sure about Havok's red ribbon-like powers since his concussive power has enough force to level a mountain, but I'm probably just picking some nits at this point.

Banshee



See the rest after the break.

MAY FILMS WORTH SEEING

I realize I'm about a week late for this post, but I just bought a baby bulldog, so when you have your own poop factory to take care of, feel free to criticize. Lots to like here: a summer tentpole, a b-movie starring Roy Batty; even a Terrence Malick sighting. Perhaps even more incredibly is that someone hired Mel Gibson for something.

May 6
The Beaver
Those in major cities gets first crack at Jodie Foster's dark comedy about a man who has a mental breakdown and begins to wear a beaver hand puppet to speak for him. Foster directs Anton Yelchin (Like Crazy), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone) and lead Mel Gibson who himself has had a decades long mental breakdown. But instead of wearing a piece of decorated fabric, Gibson thought best to rant against homosexuals, Jews, African Americans, then threaten to kill his girlfriend and mother of one of his children. Tough to decide which one sounds crazier.



See the rest after the break.