Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire opened this weekend to $1.8 million from only 18 locations. That’s a record breaking location average of $100,000 for each movie theater. It is obvious people want to see this movie. 

Precious has been on the festival circuit, getting rave reviews with some strong backers: Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry. It looks like the reviews and support from Winfrey and Perry paid off.

How can someone sit through Precious as entertainment because the subject matter is not upbeat or fanciful?  Even on talk shows like Ellen, it’s mentioned that the movie is not easy to watch because it’s very sad and emotionally draining.

With that said, I go to the movies to escape from problems of the world and not worry about the problems of society. Movies like Precious bring our awareness up to a point we can face the problems? Sure, something needs to be done about these types of social ills. Yet, they continue to exist. Does a movie resolve the problem or do we need to find workable solutions that really work not false successes? 

What do you think?

Oscar talk has been buzzing about The Last Station for both Christopher Plummerand Helen Mirren. The movie is based on Jay Parini’s novel about Leo Tolstoy., which focuses on the marriage between Tolstoy (Plummer) and his wife Sofya (Mirren) in its final years. James McAvoy also starsas a young man who works for the couple and Paul Giamatti plays an advisor to Tolstoy.

Precious opens as a limited release this November. It’s a heartbreaking tale that appearsto be charge with all sorts of emotions.  Bring Kleenex with you if you plan to see the independent film.

First Showing found a gem of an independent film called That Evening Sun starring Hal Holbrook and Mia Wasikowaska (Alice in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland). 

The story is about an aging Tennessee farmer named Abner Meecham (Holbrook) who returns to his homestead and discovers a family betrayal that he must face, then there is a reappearance of an old enemy, and the potential loss of his beloved farm.

The movie will have a very limited opening on November 13, 2009.

This film clip is intense and freaky, which shows us what the movie is going to be like. Lars von Trier is one crazy dude, but a filmmaker who knows how to create oddity and intensity.

Hayden Christensen will be starring with Thandie Newton and John Leguizamo in the independent thriller Vanishing on Seventh Street with director Brad Anderson.

The story is written by Anderson and Anthony Jaswinsk about a once-thriving city where shadowy forms cause residents to disappear without explanation. Five survivors fight to stay alive while grappling with the meaning of existence.

The movie sounds very dark and philosophical with a touch of horror or science fiction.

Christensen is playing a reporter. Newton would play a desperate nurse and Leguizamo a subway operator.

Filming begins around October in the once-thriving city of Detroit.

(Source)

It seems like a dream combination. One of America’s most distinct and surreal film directors, David Lynch, paired up with Germany’s eccentric film and documentary maker, Werner Herzog. While both very different, both are acclaimed directors who make dreamy and intense art-house films and work on the fringes of the film industry. And now Lynch has produced Herzog’s latest film, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?

The trailer really only sells iteslf on the names, not just be director and producer, but also the cast. William Dafoe plays the detective investigating the case of a deranged man (played by Michael Shannon who received an Oscar nom this year for Revolutionary Road) who becomes a murderer. Brad Dourif, Chloe Sevigny, and Grace Zabriskie provide the support. But while the plot intitially seems like another dull cop drama, the Lynchian music (literally, as he composed and performed the song) and the presence of some rather bizarre imagery (dwarves, seances?) suggest that the film is interested in exploring the mind of a madman.

The film will premiere in the Toronto Film Festival next month and will probably be released sometime next year.

Goodbye Solo won International Critics Prize at the 2008 Venice Film Festival. It’s a thought provoking movie that leans on immortality and responsibility.

The story is about two very different men from very different cultures, they meet and become friends.  The men embark on a journey of self-discovery that changes them forever.

The pacing is slow, so if you are used to action, suspense or thrillers then this movie is not for you. Ramin Bahrani encapsulates the story through silent, yet powerful moments of inner thoughts and finality. He uses very simple film work, almost guerrilla style. Such as the Taxi Dispatcher who we hear off and on throughout the movie but never see even when Solo is at her counter talking directly at her.  It’s a unique way of avoiding the extra cost of a union or non-union actor.

The silent moments with Solo drew me into his life. I wanted to know more about his culture and his humanity. Whether it came strictly from him as a person or his overall upbringing,  I wish Bahrani dabbed in this aspect to offer more clarity to Solo’s journey.

Screenhead has one copy of Goodbye Solo to give away to a lucky winner. Post your name and we will pick the winner Friday, September 11, 2009.

If you look at the list of actors in After.Life including Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci, Justin Long, Alfred Molina, Josh Charles, and Chandler Canterbury, you might find it hard to imagine they are all starring in the same independent horror movie without any US distribute yet. If you click on Ricci, you can see some more horrific pictures and the movie poster.

The film was written and directed by on-the-rise filmmaker Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo,  a NYU graduate. Film school paid off for this worthy filmmaker.

Liam Neeson plays Eliot Deacon, a funeral director who holds the fate of young woman caught between life and death. Christina Ricci plays Anna Taylor, the young woman who has a chance of living again until she discovers that Deacon has the gift of transitioning the dead, and he might just be intent on burying her alive.

(Source)

Sony Classics sent me a bundle of production stills of the highly anticipated independent film, An Education, that Sundance audience applauded and awarded the most favorite movie.  I didn’t post all the stills just two of my favorite. The stills tell a lot about the movie. If you like to see more, I recommend heading over to the official website.

It’s 1961 and attractive, bright 16-year-old schoolgirl, Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is poised on the brink of womanhood, dreaming of a rarefied, Gauloise-scented existence as she sings along to Juliette Greco in her Twickenham bedroom.  Stifled by the tedium of adolescent routine, Jenny can’t wait for adult life to begin. Meanwhile, she’s a diligent student, excelling in every subject except the Latin that her father is convinced will land her the place she dreams of at Oxford University.

One rainy day, her suburban life is upended by the arrival of an unsuitable suitor, 30- ish David (Peter Sarsgaard).  Urbane and witty, David instantly unseats Jenny’s stammering schoolboy admirer, Graham (Matthew Beard).  To her frank amazement,he even manages to charm her conservative parents Jack (Alfred Molina) and Marjorie (Cara Seymour), and effortlessly overcomes any instinctive objections to their daughter’s older, Jewish suitor.

Very quickly, David introduces Jenny to a glittering new world of classical concerts and late-night suppers with his attractive friend and business partner, Danny (Dominic Cooper) and Danny’s girlfriend, the beautiful but vacuous Helen (Rosamund Pike).  David replaces Jenny’s traditional education with his own version, picking her up from school in his Bristol roadster and whisking her off to art auctions and smoky clubs.

Under the pretext of an introduction to C.S. Lewis, David arranges to take Jenny on a weekend jaunt to Oxford with Danny and Helen.  Later, using an ingenious mixture of flattery and fibbery, he persuades her parents to allow him to take their only daughter to Paris for her 17th birthday.  David suggests that his “Aunt Helen” will once again act as a chaperon.  Jack and Marjorie do not know that Jenny has chosen the date and place to lose her virginity.

Paris is all that Jenny imagined it would be, sex with David somewhat less so. On her return to Twickenham, Jenny’s school friends are thrilled with her newfoundsophistication but her headmistress (Emma Thompson) is scandalised and her English teacher Miss Stubbs (Olivia Williams) is deeply disappointed that her prize pupil seems determined to throw away her evident gifts and certain chance of higher education.

Just as the family’s long-held dream of getting their brilliant daughter into Oxford seems within reach, Jenny is tempted by another kind of life. Will David be the making of Jenny or her undoing?