Some great movies are being released in the next two months and I’m in movie buff heaven. Studios are trotting out their heavyweight Oscar contenders. I know a lot of people like to dismiss the movies around this time as Oscar bait, but I’m not sure that’s the insult that they think it is. Yes, the Academy Awards have bestowed some terrible films with their treasured little gold man, but for the most part, if a movie has some Oscar nominations and wins to its name that is an indication of quality. The more awards something gets the more people like to trash it in retrospect, but if you tell me that Forrest Gump is a bad movie then you better get your dueling pistols ready at dawn. With that said, here are the five movies I can’t wait to see in the theatre.
Lincoln (dir. Steven Spielberg)- I mean, what is there to say? Steven Spielberg can make a movie. I held out on War Horse for a long time because it did not look like my cup of tea, but when I finally watched it recently, I found myself wondering how I could ever doubt Mr. Spielberg’s talents. With President Barack Obama’s re-election and my Civil War history course this semester, the prospect of this movie is pushing all of my buttons. It helps that Daniel Day Lewis, thespian extraordinare, basically just became Lincoln. No really, he is Lincoln now. Put his face on the penny because he is Lincoln. He looks more like Lincoln than the actual Abraham Lincoln! I am excited to see Lewis’ performance because I have been in love with him since In the Name of the Father. Aside from Daniel Day Lewis, who on his own should be enough, this movie is jam packed with other acting powerhouses. It has got James Spader (Steff from Pretty in Pink), Tommy Lee Jones (he is always chasing after somebody… let’s hope he finally gets his man here), to everyone’s current boyfriend Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It has even got Forrest Gump’s momma Sally Field, playing tall Abe’s historically crazy wife Mary Todd Lincoln. But forget those people, I am just excited to see Adam Driver from Girls, because I am really hoping he gets to have kinky sex in the Victorian era.
Les Miserables (dir. Tom Hooper)- This movie made me weep and it was only just the trailer. I have never seen the Broadway play but I did read the Victor Hugo novel it was based on. I love the story of Jean Valjean and there are very few people who haven’t heard the song “I dreamed a dream”. Tom Hooper previously directed The King’s Speech, which is a movie I rather enjoyed, so I have faith that Les Miserables is going to be pretty spectacular. What’s more, this will be one of the few film musicals to date where the actors are singing live. They are not moving their lips to a track that they pre-recorded. Nope. Live singing! Which according to the actors allows them more freedom and ability to do their acting stuff. I’m in! I have faith that Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne, and Anne Hathaway will deliver the goods. Anne Hathaway alone sold me on the film since I heard her sing in the trailer. Les Miserables is coming out on Christmas.
Anna Karenina (dir. Joe Wright)- I don’t like it when classic Russian novels are adapted to film by Americans or the British. An amazing and faithful Russian adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel has been around since 1967 and is readily available to watch on youtube. No one can film classic Russian literature like the Russians themselves. For one, everybody who has not read Anna Karenina in Russian is working off a translation that simply cannot match up or convey the same meanings as the original work because the Russian language does not translate very well into English. Sorry, I am a Russian literature snob, I know. Maybe as a Russian speaker I simply have trouble watching actors pretend to be Russian with British accents. But I am excited to see Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina despite the fact that it looks like Tolstoy meets Jane Austen. Judging by the trailer the movie is going to be one giant phantasmagorical grand ball. And I can dig that. I cannot resist a gorgeous costume drama, as evidenced by my love for Sophia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, which had no plot but was hella pretty. And for some lavish scenery and ball gowns I will even put aside my hurt Russian feelings and go see the movie. I am not keen on Keira Knightley, but I love the previous films of Joe Wright who is the director of Hanna, Pride and Prejudice, and Atonement normal”>. I’ll just disassociate the film from the work of Leo Tolstoy and I will be fine.
Django Unchained (dir. Quentin Tarrantino)- Quentin Tarrantino is forever testing me. How tasteless can he get? Is there any massive human tragedy that he will not adapt into a comically blood soaked film with a funky soundtrack? Nope. Apparently not. He mined the Third Reich for his foot fetish and now he’s picking through African American slavery. I sound outraged… but, strangely, I’m not because Tarrantino manages to avoid criticism by dealing with historical subjects in not just an ahistorical way but by placing those subjects in a completely unreal dimension that has nothing to do with anything except maybe film history. At least I know this much: whatever his faults, Quentin Tarrantino cannot be accused of making a boring movie. Django Unchained looks entertaining, and Leonardo Dicaprio is playing a role where he isn’t a tortured soul with a dead wife, so I’ll probably be seeing this movie the day it comes out.
Silver Linings Playbook (dir. David O. Russell)- This movie is great if you believe the hype coming out of the Toronto film festival. I do believe it because films that people love at TIFF generally do not disappoint. I am also a fan of Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone, Hunger Games) so I am excited to see this. I am not too familiar with the work of David O. Russell, but I thought The Fighter was a decent film despite my aversion to inspirational boxing stories. Bradley Cooper exerts an unexplained power over me because I do not hate him despite the fact he is always looking incredibly smug. I do not like his face… but I like his face. It is a dilemma. However, the main indication that Silver Linings Playbook will be amazing is the fact that it has both a terrible corny looking trailer and good reviews. If the trailer for something looks bad, but the reviews are good, the movie will win over your very soul. That is not true, I just made it up, but it makes sense to me. Silver Linings Playbook is coming out this month.