Film reviews opening Sept. 30

The Greatest Game Ever Played
I have been a big fan of Shia LaBeouf’s ever since the Project Greenlight season where he filmed “The Battle of Shaker Heights.” Before that, LaBeouf starred in the Disney Channel’s “Even Stevens.” LaBeouf plays likeable characters and he uses this skill to his advantage in the period sports drama, “The Greatest Game Ever Played.”

LaBeouf plays Francis Ouimet who grows up caddying at the golf course across the street, but is considered of too low a class to actually play the game. Ouimet defies the class structure that is set on keeping him in his place and goes on to become the first amateur player to win the U.S. Open.

There is some beautiful cinematography in this movie and LaBeouf’s performance is only a slight hint of better things to come. I was concerned that the special effects used to draw the audience into the game of golf would be too distracting and seem out of place in a period drama, but director Bill Paxton, who last directed the spiritual, supernatural mystery, “Frailty,” uses the effects sparingly.

A History of Violence
OK, I admit it, ever since the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy I will go see anything with Viggo Mortenson. In “A History of Violence,” Mortenson, as Tom Stall battles bad guys with his fists and whatever else he can get his hands on. Trouble is, he’s supposed to be a quiet husband and father of two in a small Kansas town. The ever-reliable and interesting Maria Bello plays his wife, Edie, who discovers the man she married may not be who she thinks he is. Ed Harris and William Hurt in a very uncharacteristic role as Tom’s brother, round out the cast.

As its title suggests, there is violence in this film and director David Cronenberg also chooses to make the sex just as violent as the beatings that Tom dishes out to some Philly mobsters who have come to get their revenge. The sexuality is not violent as in “Girls Don’t Cry,” but more animalistic and passionate. I’m sure Cronenberg is going for some parallels between sex and violence, but I’ll let the intellectuals figure that out.

Oliver Twist
Roman Polanski follows up his Oscar-winning “The Pianist” with his cinematic interpretation of Charles Dickens’ classic rags to riches tale, “Oliver Twist.” The films stars a bunch of British actors that are largely unrecognizable to American audiences. Perhaps the only name that may be familiar is Ben Kingsley, but he is barely visible beneath all of the prosthetic makeup. Polanski showed he knows how to film filth, grime and poverty in “The Pianist” and his take on “Oliver Twist” definitely has its bleak moments. Newcomer Barney Clark plays the title role and he does it with such a sweetness and innocence that you can’t help but root for him even if you know how the story is going to end. Polanski has managed to breathe new life into “Oliver Twist” and film in such a way where it feels fresh. I won’t be surprised if Jamie Foreman, who plays the sinister Bill Sykes, is considered for Best Supporting Actor.

Serenity
No, you do not need to have been a fan of “Firefly’ in order to enjoy this movie. It’s funny, entertaining, and has flesh-eating humans called Reavers. What more could you want in a sci-fi western from Joss Whedon, the man who resurrected “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” from being just another bad teen comedy. [See articles below].

Joss Whedon's Magic Touch

Sandra Kraisirideja
Writer/director Joss Whedon was able to take a mediocre movie called “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and turn it into a huge television success, but can he do it in reverse?

As a third generation television writer and Emmy-nominated creator of “Buffy” and its spin off “Angel,” it seemed Whedon could do no wrong.

His winning streak came to an abrupt end in 2002, however, when his TV series “Firefly,” a science-fiction western Whedon created for FOX TV, was cancelled after only 11 episodes.

Determined to bring the show back in some form Whedon made the impossible happen. He got Universal to pay an estimated $40 million to turn “Firefly into a feature-length movie called “Serenity.”

Amazingly, Universal agreed to the deal based solely on the strength of DVD sales of “Firefly’s” first and only season, and relentless fan support.

It’s why Whedon calls “Serenity” the project he is most proud of. “If there was ever something people said couldn’t be done, it was this,” he said.

“Serenity” is set in the distant future after a galactic civil war and involves a scruffy band of space bandits who eke out a living pulling off small crimes and working as transport-for-hire.

The movie features relative unknown actors—Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin, Summer Glau, Sean Maher, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Krumholtz—and some veterans, Adam Baldwin and Ron Glass.

When casting a project Whedon said he looks for “somebody who is sane and is going to be able to play well with others.” What he’s looking for is the actor to bring an element of humanity to a role.

“I do think people do have a quality and you can’t always get it, but when they care about the things around them it makes a great difference in the kind of performances they get,” said Whedon, who has a boyish face that is balanced out by a dry, self-deprecating humor.

While the movie and the TV show share elements of plot and character, Whedon considers “Serenity” separate from “Firefly” because they use different formats.

“You really have to respect the different needs of the two mediums,” said Whedon. “There has to be a reason to make a movie that has to be worth all the money that is different than the reasons to make a TV show.”

Now that he’s gotten his chance to direct his first movie, is Whedon secretly glad that “Firefly” went off the air?

“Obviously it was wonderful to work with my friends again and I love the idea of them on the big screen. I think…they are incredibly charismatic and it is a great opportunity, but nothing will make me say, ‘Oh, I’m so glad ‘Firefly’ was cancelled.’"

The challenge for Whedon when writing the script for “Serenity” was to find a way to not alienate those who had not seen an episode of “Firefly.” The movie had to stand on its own.

“Obviously there are certain things that require closure that come from the show, but if you’re making a glorified last episode of a TV show, shame on you,” said Whedon, who could not recall a movie based on a TV show that he liked.

For his first full-length feature Whedon made sure he could have a bit of fun.

For one scene he mapped out a four-and-a-half minute continuous shot through the ship. It took about 46 takes to complete, but Whedon is glad he got a chance to do it.

“It’s not there to announce itself. A lot of people didn’t even notice it was one shot. It’s just there to serve a purpose, but it’s still kind of cool,” he said.

Whedon is also proud of one of the final shots in the movie featuring Glau. “I waited my whole career to do that shot. We built the entire set based on that shot,” he said.

Those who have seen the movie call the image “Buffy-esque,” and Whedon does not deny the similarities.
“It’s just something that speaks to me. It’s an obsession of mine that ain’t going away. The young woman with enormous power resonates with me.”

It’s fitting that Whedon has been tapped as the director for “Wonder Woman.”

“I think I have a particular perspective; something to say about the world that hasn’t been said in a comic book movie just yet and ‘Wonder Woman’ is the perfect person to say it. I’m excited to work with her.”

Whedon said the story will be set in present day and it’s likely Wonder Woman will get into her invisible jet at some point. “I gotta make sure I can fit it into the plot, but that’s the plan,” he said.

“‘Wonder Woman’ is another movie where the last thing I would ever hope is that somebody would think it was based on the TV show. It’s got to be it’s own creature.”

Whedon will not be bringing any of the TV show’s campy qualities to the film.
“Campy is sort of self-awarily goofy” to the point of being cynical, he said. “It knows that it’s making fun of something and it doesn’t take itself seriously,” said Whedon, who agreed “Buffy” may have been melodramatic, over-the-top and silly, but not campy.

While Whedon has his hands in a few projects, the script for “Wonder Woman” is front and center.

“The actual writing process is a very small part of writing for me. I don’t sit down to write until I know pretty much how everything is going to turn out already. I’m like a vulture. I circle and circle before I dive,” he said.

Original: Entertainment Today

"Firefly" — The Little Show That Could

Sandra Kraisirideja
Word is spreading about the sci-fi western “Serenity,” based on the television show “Firefly” and its uncharacteristic journey to the big screen.

Joss Whedon, creator of the highly successful “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” television shows, was caught off guard in 2002 when the FOX TV network cancelled his latest venture, “Firefly,” after only 11 episodes.

It was a particularly hard blow for Whedon, who cast “Firefly” with the intent of keeping it on the air at least as long as “Buffy” or “Angel,” which lasted for seven and five years, respectively.

Driven by his own desire to do right by his cast, Whedon pounded the pavement to find a way to bring the show back.

What he got was something bigger than he or anyone on the cast anticipated—the chance to bring “Firefly” back as a feature-length film through Universal Pictures.

“Serenity” is set in the “Firefly” universe, but Whedon wants to make it clear that it is not the TV show on a bigger scale.

“I worked for a long time to come up with something epic enough to be a Universal movie and not just a glorified episode of ‘Firefly.’ I wanted to make a movie that made me feel or made people feel the way I felt the first time I saw the first ‘Star Wars.’”

It’s not necessary to be familiar with the “Firefly” series in order to understand the plot of “Serenity,” which revolves around a rag-tag group of space outlaws who discover that a passengers on their ship is harboring a secret that the existing government will do anything to hide.

The movie’s title comes from the name of the ship.

The entire cast of “Firefly” is back in “Serenity” and many believe Whedon more than lived up to his promise to keep fighting for them.

“We’ve had a long ride back from a cancellation of a short-lived television series to the release of a major motion picture. I don’t know if there’s any other story equivalent to that in Hollywood history,” said Adam Baldwin, a veteran of “Angel,” who plays the wise-cracking, gun-toting Jayne.

Sean Maher, who plays Simon, hoped “Firefly” would continue, but he didn’t expect it to become a full-length movie for Universal.

“It’s extraordinary and it still surprises me to sit here today and talk about the movie. Now that it’s done and people are loving it, and it’s getting this wonderful response, it continually surprises me. It’s like we’re this little show that could,” he said.

Nathan Fillion, who plays the ship’s captain, Mal, said re-creating the “Firefly” universe for the big screen was easy. “We had more time and more room to swing our arms. It didn’t feel like we had bit off too much. It felt real,” he said.

Gina Torres, who plays second-in-command, Zoe, said the larger format just felt right. “We didn’t have to meet anything that we hadn’t in some way, shape or form, experienced in the series. It was all part of this world that we had come to know. In that way it was organic,” she said.

With the movie completed Whedon and the cast must wait for the box office receipts to roll in to see if they will return to Serenity once more.

“It could potentially be something big but come what may, we have closure on a very sad chapter of our lives when the show was cancelled. Now we have this movie that stands on its own and hopefully we’re all part of something special and I think we are,” Baldwin said.

Original: ComingSoon.net

Writer/Director Joss Whedon on his first feature film "Serenity"

CAPTION: From left to right are crew and passengers of Serenity, a transport-for-hire ship caught between warring forces out to dominate the galaxy: Alan Tudyk as Wash, Gina Torres as Zoe, Jewel Staite as Kaylee, Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Morena Baccarin as Inara and Sean Maher as Simon.
Credit: Sidney Baldwin

For the "Serenity" junket at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills Joss wore a navy blue, knit shirt, checkered golf-style pants and sneakers. During the one-on-one interview his knee was constantly moving up and down. I got the feeling he doesn't like to sit still for long. A word of caution, the audio is not very good because Joss talks really low at times. I'm thinking of hooking a mic right onto them in the future.

PART 1

Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm Reynolds and Adam Baldwin as Jayne rush out with weapons at the ready from Serenity, a transport-for-hire ship. Credit: Sidney Baldwin.

Part 2

Clockwise (from the top), the crew and passengers of Serenity prepare for a dangerous trip off ship: Adam Baldwin as Jayne, Summer Glau as River, Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm Reynolds and Gina Torres as Zoe. Credit: Sidney Baldwin.

PART 3

The Island

Producers Laurie MacDonald and Walter F. Parkes talk candidly about the summer slump and what went wrong with The Island.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

Reese Witherspoon interview snippets from Just Like Heaven