Border Crossing: Blunt and Del Toro Astound in Sicario

Denis Villeneuve is the real McCoy, and he's not afraid of the dark. With awards season exploding all around us, it seems there are always a couple of really top notch movies that somehow get lost. Sicario didn't score a single nomination at last night's Golden Globes, yet it's a spectacular film on every level.

Villeneuve directed the staggeringly good Prisoners and now he's turned his attention to the violent border zone of the drug war along the Mexican border. Emily Blunt is a dedicated FBI agent with a track record of getting things done. A good movie should capture your attention immediately, and the raid Blunt leads at the start of Sicario does that in spades. Her superiors offer up the opportunity of being assigned to an inter-agency task force, led by Josh Brolin. It's a hard core assignment with plenty of gray area, but it gives Blunt a chance to do some damage further up the food chain, getting a crack at those responsible for the carnage she's been barely chipping away at.  

Brolin's a relaxed predator who has broad authority and thinks nothing of leading a team across the border into Mexico. Benicio Del Toro acts as Brolin's liaison, someone who knows the terrain of the drug cartels intimately well. He's a mystery, and it isn't long before Blunt's loaner agent finds herself unsure of who to trust, while depending on her new comrades for her very life. Blunt does a remarkable here, showing even more of the ferocity and guarded vulnerability so deftly on view in Edge of Tomorrow. Del Toro does some of his very best work here, playing a complicated character who's had to live with a legacy of blood, and been irrevocably changed. He's really fantastic.

Villeneuve has once again partnered with  his Prisoners cinematographer, Roger Deakins, and these two work together unbelievably well. Deakins camera prowls through the bleak rural and urban environments glimpsing dread and menace at every turn, finding moments of surreal beauty and quiet between the sudden eruptions of violence. Incredibly, I'm even more giddy with excitement at the prospect of these two collaborating on the new Blade Runner movie.

Sicario is a strong cup of coffee, but vivid and arresting as hell. As Blunt navigates the moral purgatory of a situation that's been escalating and imploding for so long, you can't help but wonder if anyone can ever make a difference. Sicario is the best film I've seen about one of the most violent situations on Earth, and Villeneuve cements his position as one of the best directors working. Like Nightcrawler, you might feel like you need a good shower afterwards, but you'll find it impossible to look away.

HBO Honcho Confirms Deadwood Movie

I just love it when the dead won't stay buried.

After nearly a decade of rumors and kindled hopes, it looks like HBO is really going to return to Deadwood,and finish the beloved Western they left hanging.

Word comes from no less an authority than HBO’s head honcho Michael Lombardo, speaking at the Television Critics Association’s press tour yesterday:

“David (Milch, series creator) has our commitment that we are going to do it. He pitched what he thought generally what the storyline would be – and knowing David, that could change. But it’s going to happen.”

It will take some wrangling to reassemble that legendary cast, including Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane (due to appear on HBO’s Game of Thronesthis year), Molly Parker, Paula Malcomson, Robin Weigert, John Hawkes, Garret Dillahunt, Titus Welliver, Dayton Callie, Brad Dourif, William Sanderson, Jim Beaver, Powers Boothe and the rest. It’ll be a neat trick to get all those birds to fly back to the roost. But Lombardo sounds pretty confident: “I’m going to leave that in David’s hands. He’s confident he will be able to. Some casts and creators form a bond that becomes relevant for the rest of their lives. This was a defining moment for a lot of them.”

You can say that again. The Deadwood cast has been the Go-To favorite for dozens of TV series and films, from Lost to Fringe to Justified to Sons of Anarchy.

For many of these actors, Deadwood launched their careers. If the show does get the chance to come back and finish their story, it should be a hell of a thing.

Del Toro Charting a Fantastic Voyage

Sometimes I feel badly for Guillermo del Toro. He's such a tremendous visionary fantasist, yet he's caught some bad breaks. He lost his shot at The Hobbit; he's had his dream adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness collapse just when it looked like it would finally get made. His recent mounting of Pacific Rim 2 collapsed at Legendary, and he kind of took it on the chin with the reviews for Crimson Peak - which I still haven't seen (it comes to home video on February 9th).

So today's news made me smile, as it looks like Guillermo is circling a project that feels like a perfect fit, a remake of the 1966 sci-fi classic, Fantastic Voyage, with a real Big Kahuna providing support - James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment.

Fantastic Voyage is the cracking yarn of a team of scientists who are miniaturized down to near atomic size aboard a tiny submarine and injected into the body of a Cold War defector to save his life. If you've never seen it, it's amazing, and a heck of a good way to get younger folks interested in biology and science. Raquel Welch helps, too.

This iteration of Fantastic Voyage is from a treatment by David Goyer (who wrote del Toro's Blade 2) with Justin Rhodes. Cameron has been trying to get this up and running for several years - Paul Greengrass was circling at one point - so del Toro's availability and interest bodes really well. This just feels like a good idea.

Here's wishing Guillermo all the best on this one, and a remake that could be well worth the trip.

 

Box Office History: A Force To Be Reckoned With

It finally happened - Avatar has been dethroned. Today, Star Wars: The Force Awakens blew past the James Cameron opus to assume the title of top-grossing film at the North American box office, bypassing Avatar's $760.5 million gross after only 20 days in theaters. It took Avatar 34 weeks back in 2009.

But James Cameron doesn't need to start crying quite yet, as Avatar still holds the highest global overall gross at $2.8 billion. As of today, Force Awakens is at $1.5 billion worldwide, currently positioned at 4th highest-grossing film in history. That all could change soon, however, as this weekend Force Awakens opens in China, which could add to its overall global numbers very significantly. It's the second-largest film market in the world.

It's also important to keep a little perspective on all this - these numbers don't count for inflation. Once that's factored in, Gone with the Wind is still the top-earner in movie history at $1.7 billion, with the original Star Wars in second place with $1.5 billion. The Force Awakens is actually in 21st place behind perennial classics like The Sound of Music, E.T.: The Extraterrestrial and Titanic. 

So history is still looking rosy, with Maria von Trapp and Scarlet Scarlett O'Hara still big earners. But Kylo Ren and the gang have plenty to celebrate today. The Force Awakens is still making bank like a runaway train, and as Princess Leia once exclaimed, "It's not over yet."

So pop open the best Veuve Clicquot, J.J. You've earned it! And send the bill to Disney.

The Hateful Eight: Tarantino's Widescreen Triumph

I didn't think the year could get any better, but it did. Still flying on that Force Awakens high, I could not let the chance to see the roadshow release of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight pass me by - and neither should you. This may well be the single greatest act by a filmmaker to restore the experience of moviegoing to what it used to be, in the last forty years.

As you've probably heard, Tarantino shot Hateful Eight on film, in 70mm Ultra Panavision, the widest film format there is (2.76:1), and which hasn't been used since the late sixties. It might seem a strange choice to use a format designed to capture the most epic of sweeping vistas to shoot a slow-burning thriller, most of which takes place in a single, dimly lit room. Au contraire. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the real McCoy. I loved this movie to death, and I can't recommend it enough.

Now I'm lucky enough to live in a town that worships movies, and we have a spectacular venue that knows 70mm - The Hollywood. If you're a film fan - meaning celluloid - and you swoon at the grandeur of the widescreen image, do whatever you have to do, but see this movie in its roadshow incarnation while you can. Blu-ray just ain't gonna do it justice. It'll be awesome, but you want to see this film the first time this way - as an experience. You will never forget it.

In my opinion, this is Quentin Tarantino at his absolute best. It's a Western for people who love Westerns, and for people who don't. It's also one hell of a mystery, because very little is as it appears. Which makes discussing it difficult without blowing the airlock, so no spoilers whatsoever will be found here.

The cast here is one of the most dynamic and hypnotic to be found. Kurt Russell is on some kind of high-test Western resurgence, having just given us Bone Tomahawk, now he's back in another iconic frontier role, as bounty hunter John "The Hangman" Ruth. Most bounty hunters deliver their quarry as corpses - it's a lot easier. Not Ruth. He likes to see 'em hang for what they did. You know how some guys start to lose their voice as they get older? Not Kurt Russell. The timbre on this guy is out of control. Ruth is a loud, arrogant, self righteous punisher who takes no chances and trusts nobody. Put simply, this is one of Russell's best roles. He's fantastic here, as a man desperate to make sure nobody denies him the $10,000 bounty his captive will fetch. His voice and intensity are humbling. Kurt Russell still has it, and then some.

Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is the bounty, a woman with more than one screw loose, who Leigh plays to hysterical, teeth-rotting perfection as some kind of violent, white trash Ophelia. She's phenomenal here.

But Samuel L. Jackson owns this picture. You can't really talk about The Hateful Eight without talking about race. The Civil War is over, and Tarantino deftly uses the unconcealed loathing between survivors of the Confederacy and men like Jackson's Major Marquis Warren, to hold up a mirror to the polarized racial strife of America today. Tarantino puts the N-word brutally front and center, making it clear that some factions have no intention of abandoning its use. As a former Union soldier, now also turned bounty hunter, Major Warren is a man with a past, and a knack for survival. When a fierce Wyoming blizzard throws these wild cards together in the remote sanctuary of Minnie's Haberdashery along with an aging former Confederate General (Bruce Dern) and a loyal son of the South (the amazing Walton Goggins), the pot starts simmering immediately. When it starts to boil over, everyone's going to get burned. Badly.
















Now everyone in this cast is simply awesome, but Goggins deserves a medal. He's been solid gold on Justified for years, but he does way more than just hold his own with Jackson, Leigh and the others. He's white lightning, and he ascends to some amazing heights. Nominate this guy, please.

The roadshow release is truly a spectacle to behold. It was an incredibly shrewd move to shoot in 70mm, as the feel of the environment is jaw-dropping in the opening scenes. But I'd argue that the massive screen and immersive detail works even better once we get cooped up in Minnie's. The widescreen becomes a battlefield, and Tarantino DP favorite Robert Richardson might want to clear some shelf space for another Oscar. The format works incredibly well to make the emotional immediacy come alive, with antagonists often glaring across the auditorium at each other from opposite sides of the gigantic frame. It brings the depth of field alive in a large, dark, shadowy room that would be impossible in any other format. The Hateful Eight is Theatrical in every sense of the word. It often feels like a stage play, and Tarantino encourages his stellar cast to go big, or go home. It all works incredibly well. I'll tell you this, it never feels long, not for a second. It's over three hours long, and the tension takes its time, but it just hurtled by for me. Even with the Overture and a 12-minute Intermission, there wasn't a wasted or indulgent second - it was a Swiss watch, and a Swiss watch that ticked really fricking fast. I felt deliriously, luridly, hysterically entertained for every second. What may surprise is for how violent and offensive this picture may seem to people, it's also extremely funny. Often.

Tarantino, amazing cast, historic cinematography, but trust me when I say that Ennio Morricone's score is sizzling butter on hot cast iron. Morricone wrote original music for The Hateful Eight but couldn't contribute the entire score. So in a phenomenal bit of repurposing, they used previously unreleased sections of his score from John Carptenter's The Thing - serendipitous, given that Tarantino cites The Thing as being one of Hateful's biggest influences. It's easy to see why. Eight strangers cooped up in a murderous polar environment full of secrets who can't trust each other. The cumulative score is amazing, and as that Overture played, the chills were palpable. An Overture is supposed to set the stage, and Morricone's score does a spectacular, unnerving job.

If you love Tarantino, I shouldn't have to sell you hard. But The Hateful Eight is cinema - plain and simple. Right up there with Mad Max: Fury Road. It's absolutely one of the best pictures of the year and a triumph for Quentin Tarantino and fans of film exhibition everywhere. You are doing yourself the biggest disservice imaginable if you miss seeing this in the theater while there's still a chance.

LOCALS: The Hateful Eight has been held over at the Hollywood, but you want to get your tickets while you can - in advance. Every showtime is selling out, so do yourself a favor and plan for this one in advance. That ought to tell you something. You miss this at your own peril. At the dawn of a New Year, I am grateful for Hateful.

Legend of Cinematography Vilmos Zsigmond Passes at 85

We lost one of the greats this weekend, one of the Rembrandts of motion picture cinematography, who leaves a huge legacy of images on the landscape of cinema - Hungarian-born cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond.

Zsigmond came out of a lengthy run in exploitation films, including films such as

Horror of the Blood Monsters, before his 1971 breakthrough on Robert Altman's

McCabe and Mrs. Miller - a daring and unconventional Western using a desaturated, nearly sepia tone color palate that set it apart from every previous Western ever filmed. Its influence still looms large, particularly in the look and feel of HBO's Deadwood.

Zsigmond quickly moved to another film that would become a landmark of the era, with John Boorman's 1972 Deliverance.

He was in high demand, sought after by filmmakers who shaped the decade, continuing to work with Altman in films such as The Long Goodbye, Steven Spielberg's theatrical debut, The Sugarland Express, and Obsession for Brian DePalma.

But it was 1977 that saw Zsigmond's biggest film yet, with Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which won him the Oscar for Best Cinematography -a frustrating triumph, as he felt many of ideas failed to be used, and saw himself as a glorified cameraman. It would be his last time working with Spielberg.

Zsigmond then began his collaboration with Michael Cimino, which led to two films showcasing some of his best work, The Deer Hunter and Heaven's Gate.

While Heaven's Gate has been one of the most misunderstood and vilified of films, Zsigmond's cinematography is some of the most astonishing, naturalistic work ever produced. It's a stunning achievement, and the two films with Cimino represent a master at the peak of his craft.

Zsigmond went on to shoot films such as The Rose, Blow Out, The Witches of Eastwick, The Bonfire of the Vanities, The Ghost and the Darkness, Melinda and Melinda and The Black Dahlia, working with directors such as Woody Allen and Brian DePalma.

His later work in television included stints on The Mists of Avalon and The Mindy Project. 

Vilmos Zsigmond helped shape the look of motion pictures and was a true cinema visionary. His eyes may be closed now, but what he saw will project light in the darkness for generations of film lovers to come.

The Postal Frontier

Happy New Year! It's 2016, and one of the many milestones we'll be hearing a lot about is the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek. Expect plenty of coverage, events and of course, merchandise.

The U.S. Postal Service has announced a special commemorative set of four Forever Stamps to mark the occasion.

No word yet on when this quartet of miniature works of art will be ready for adhesion, but they'll be beaming down sometime between now and the show's half-century mark in September, so you can Boldy Post where no Mail has gone before!