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Showing posts with label Aaron Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aaron Johnson. Show all posts
Friday, 15 April 2011
I'm a sucker for Scorsese, so I love this post that Paolo did on The Last Temptation of Christ by default. Really, though, almost all of Scorsese's films beg you to analyse. I'm both surprised it got any Oscar love, and miffed that it only got one.
Stephanie lists her five favourite Sidney Lumet films. I'm still not sure what I'd pick as a favourite. And yet, even though Long Day's Journey Into Night is nowhere near my favourite it's always the film of his I remember first, and not even for Kate. I just think Dean Stockwell is phenomenal in it.
On the note of classics, though, Anna lists the best female classic performances, by her edict. Kate is on there - if she wasn't I wouldn't even have thought of linking this. I kid you not. (PS. Am I the only one who thinks Eva Marie Saint looks like a dead-ringer for Kristin Scott Thomas in that screenshot?)
And moving from the classics to the modern, Nicholas offers up a nice review of Kick-Ass. I say no more, it's a good one. I'm crossing fingers that Aaron Johnson comes off that great year last year to make a good career for himself.
The Mad Hatter is taking one for the team, watching truly horrendous films...or so he says. The thing is, I've seen only one on the list - so I can't be certain they're that awful, I've never even heard of them. Are they?
And to close, check out this fine retrospective of Redford's directing career that Yojimbo charted.
Friday, 28 January 2011
Though she didn’t end up with any love from the top awards’ bodies last year was all about Marion Cotillard for me. Her general brilliance turned Public Enemies into something much better than it could have been, and her brilliantly performed Luisa Contini was a beacon in the already good cast of Nine (she made my supporting actress shortlist for both performances). Anyone can star in a slew of performances in a given year, but it’s something better when an actor can deliver two (or more) performances in a year that have something good to see in them and assume different sensibilities*.
THE NOMINEES
Annette Bening (in The Kids Are All Right; Mother & Child)
It might be easy to mistake them for extensions of the same character, but whereas Nic quietness is indicative of the uncertainty she wishes to hide, Karen’s quietness is more of a conscious decision to observe those around her. Both performances stand somewhere at the top half of her career, making her one of those indelible proofs of actresses getting better as they age.
Helena Bonham Carter (in Alice in Wonderland; Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows; The King’s Speech)
In a way, it annoys me that she’s turned into a sort of ultimate supporting actor implying that her natural personality is best taken in small doses and even though she supports in a period piece in The King’s Speech it’s neither reminiscent of her early Merchant Ivory work nor suggestive of her recent kooky characters. Each character she played this way, in their own way, is a woman before her time but she doesn’t make that define them. There is a palpable sense that she’s being served up too little on each occasion, but it’s the sort of acting from the sidelines that does not define the picture but still augments it significantly.
Patricia Clarkson (in Cairo Time; Easy A; Shutter Island)
Her supporting turn in Shutter Island is a bit of a blink and you’ll miss it one – and yet, along with Williams and DiCaprio, she leaves the biggest impact on you. You rarely ever seeing Patty being loud and obnoxious, always opting for a quiet sincerity which is her ace-in-hole when it comes to Cairo Time which she makes so much more important than you expect her to be. And then opposite Tucci she offers up one of the best screen-mothers of the year in Easy A. Truly, a great body of work.Aaron Johnson (in The Greatest; Kick-Ass; Nowhere Boy)
It’s been a while since I had this much interest in watching a young male star’s star rise. It’s been a stratospheric year for Johnson and more than turning out three performances this year, it’s impressive how the running thread between them is so thin. There’s little to find that’s palpably similar between his Lennon, his John and his Dave. True, acting doesn’t necessarily mean mastering accents, but I’ll give him credit for pulling off the American one so well, nonetheless.
Kerry Washington (in For Colored Girls; Night Catches Us; Mother & Child)
I don’t know – the fact that each film has landed with almost no sound makes me rethink the sentiment – but, perhaps, Kerry is on her way to stardom, opting for the slower path. She pulls out three performances that rests on internalising grief and pain and performs each brilliant. Sure, she thrives best in Mother & Child, but even in the huge cast of For Colored Girls with the storyline that seems least important she carves something special. (And story issues aside she and Mackie are beautiful to watch in Night Catches Us.) Which actor ruled 2010 with their ability to jump from performance to performance?
* Just in case you're wondering, Johnny Depp would win the alternative award here. He's easily the worst thing in The Tourist and Alice in Wonderland (yep, even worse than the Wasikowska's bland work in the latter.) He sinks Angelina's attempts to be at least interesting in the former, and other than a glimmer of goodness opposite HBC he's terribly vile in the latter. I hope it's not the beginning of a trend for him...
Saturday, 25 September 2010
I’m shamelessly slow on the uptake. It wasn’t until I watched Scott Pilgrim vs the World that I finally put the pieces together regarding Johnny Simmons who’ve I’ve already seen in two movies this year – but didn’t realise. He was rather impressive in the relatively underrated Jennifer’s Body and I remember Ryan praising his turn in The Greatest. I kind of glossed over his performance in the latter, but despite the definite inadequacies in the script the acting in The Greatest really is all-round goodness and Simmons is a good addition. What with the trimester of Aaron Johnson (also in the The Greatest, then Kick-Ass and Nowhere Boy) it’s good seeing some good young men coming up in the business since they’re almost always overshadowed by the women.
People seem to be taking to Andrew Garfield recently and Josh Hutchinson seems like another one to watch out for. I’m still holding out that Shia LeBoeuf will someday impress me (though I used to think the same thing about Freddie Muniz, so who knows)? I’ve managed to come around on Michael Cera owing to him being perfectly casted in Scott Pilgrim vs the World even if I think he’s a cheap doppelganger for Paul Dano. I struggle to find good very young male actors – thespians like the Bens (Whishaw and Foster) and James McAvoy are already cemented as impressive actors for me – and they’ll soon be over thirty, whereas the younger women are constantly impressing from the very young like Saoirse and Abigail (even though I wonder if her turn in Little Miss Susnhine) was a fluke. I don’t care for Ellen Page or Chloe Moretz at all, but they’re both still considered a relatively valuable commodity. Mia Wasikowska is making waves, Evan Rachel Wood and Jena Malone (twins separated at birth) were impressing as children, though they’ve both been in slumps lately and Keira and Scarlett and Carey are still young despite each having done impressive work already.
I don’t know why the odds seem to be in favour of the women, perhaps I’m just prejudiced towards them...either way, let me return to my original point. I’m hoping Johnny Simmons has a strong career ahead of him (look at all that digression).
Thursday, 10 June 2010
The first thing that struck me after seeing Nowhere Boy was how short it was. In that sense, I’m unsure how much of a traditional biopic it is. But really, I don’t care. My desire for seeing it depended less on my interest in The Beatles and more in completing the trimester of Aaron Johnson films I’d seen this year (one, two) and in and seeing a film with Kristin Scott Thomas who I have an ongoing love affair and who I persist deserves to find more mainstream success than she does.
I remember earlier in the year when the nominations for the BAFTAs came out I was quite glad to see Kristin Scott Thomas Kristin Scott Thomas has the oddest ability to speak English as if it were not her natural language. Listening to her as she enunciates there’s not the slightest trace of Sylvia McCordle or Katherine Clifton and though it’s odd at first how much she seems to be acting unsubtly it’s not exactly her fault that she slapped with the bulk of uncomfortable expository dialogue. It’s the sort of dull symbolism that Sam Taylor Wood and Matt Greenlagh seem intent on propagating. From Kristin’s black hair and constant costumes to Anne-Marie Duff’s red hair and similarly red (or rose-tinted) costumes it’s all very rote but I can’t feel particularly angry at him. From its fanciful name to the almost ludicrously convoluted plot lines Nowhere Boy seems to exist more as a musical fable than a musical biopic.
With everyone around being forced to play some fabrication of a character and not a person (albeit excellently), so of course it ends up depending on Aaron Johnson for a large portiont present therealism of the film. I remarked after seeing Kick-Ass that Johnson seemed to have the potential for greatness, with which his superhero incarnation would be remembered as the beginning of it all. Oddly, despite only now going worldwide Nowhere Boy and The Greatest were shot before Kick-Ass. I'm now excited to see what else he can do since he's obviously a talented youngster, managing to make Lennon (the character) and his antics believable even in light of some dubious script decisions.
I would not charge Nowhere Boy with being revolutionary or particularly innovative in its techniques. But so often (and again and again) I end up being seduced by the little British films. The crux of the film’s charm does not lie in the fact that it’s based on Lennon’s life. It doesn’t depend on your knowledge (or interest) in the Beatles, I’m not sure it even depends on your interest in the story. It’s a valiant effort of an independent drama that depends less on realism and more on its allure, and I was enticed.
B+ (I have a feeling I’m being unnecessarily generous, but oh well)
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