jueves, 31 de marzo de 2011

I Can't Wait (the 2011 edition)

2010 is already finished and done with and it is time to look ahead to see what wonders await us. Or rather, for what wonders are we willing to wait. Thanks to the all mighty Internet I compiled a list of 94 films to be released (in principle) in 2011 that I intend to see sooner or later. Out of those 94 films, I have chosen the 20 I am anticipating the most. And here they are:

20. Moonrise Kingdom


Because of: Wes Anderson, Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman.
In Spite of: A likely 2012 release (that is why it's last), Frances McDormand and Edward Norton.

19. Jane Eyre


Because of: The Brontë surname, Michael Fassbender, Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins and the trailer.
In Spite of: Potential dullness?

18. My Week With Marilyn



Because of: Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Eddie Redmayne and the Royal Hollywood story.
In Spite of: Potential "biopicness"?

17. The Help



Because of: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Olive Penderghast, Allison Janney and Emma's pocketful of sunshine.
In Spite of: Smells like The Secret Life of Bees.

16. Trespass



Because of: NICOLE KIDMAN, the Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas, Adaptation, Bad Lieutenant or The Weather Man, Nicole Kidman, Cam Gigandet's pecs and Nicole Kidman.
In Spite of: Joel Schumacher, the Nicolas Cage of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Season of the Witch or Ghost Rider.

15. X-Men First Class



Because of: January Jones, McAvoy, Fassbender, Bacon, Hoult, Lawrence, the X-Men in general, the setting in the 60s and Matthew Vaughn.
In Spite of: Rose Byrne.

14. Winnie the Pooh



Because of: Eeyore, Tigger, Piglet, Winnie, Owl, Rabbit.
In Spite of: Will it be a long episode of the TV show?

13. We Need to Talk About Kevin



Because of: Tilda Swinton, the premise.
In Spite of: I know very little about the film so I can't think of anything.

12. Friends With Benefits



Because of: Mila Kunis, Will Gluck, Justin Timberlake's pecs, Patricia Clarkson, Emma Stone, the trailer.
In Spite of: The most likely cheesy and conventional ending.

11. Bad Teacher



Because of: Cameron Diaz, the trailer, the hope of Justin Timberlake's pecs, Molly Shannon!, Lucy Punch.
In Spite of: Less likely to have a conventional ending but still plausible.

10. Immortals



Because of: Tarsem Singh, the visual side of his films, Greek Mythology, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff, the abundance of pecs.
In Spite of: Freida Pinto (who nevertheless is choosing very interesting directors).

9. A Dangerous Method



Because of: Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, Vigo Mortensen, Vincent Cassel, psychoanalysis and I would love to say Cronenberg but I'm still a virgin in his films.
In Spite of: Cronenberg might be too tough for me?

8. Hanna



Because of: Joe Wright, Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Olivia Williams, Eric Bana.
In Spite of: Was Joe Wright a two-tricks pony?

7. Shame



Because of: Steve McQueen, Michael Fassbender, Hunger, Carey Mulligan.
In Spite of: Totally unrelated to the film but I don't like Carey off-screen.

6. One Day



Because of: Anne Hathaway, Lone Scherfig, Jim Sturgess, Patricia Clarkson, the premise, that wonderful poster.
In Spite of: Will it deliver?

5. Contagion



Because of: Soderbergh, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow.
In Spite of: Nothing.

4. The Tree of Life



Because of: Malick's grandeur, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain (I have never seen her in a film and I love her already), dinosaurs.
In Spite of: Malick's grandeur is sometimes too grand for me.

3. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo



Because of: Fincher, Rooney Mara, Fincher's perfectionism, Daniel Craig, Fincher's coolness.
In Spite of: Remake, seemingly-boring novel?

2. Melancholia



Because of: LARS, Kirsten Dunst, VON, Charlotte Gainsbourg, TRIER, Alexander Skarsgard, Von Trier's madness, the premise.
In Spite of: Nothing.

1. La Piel que Habito



Because of: Pedro Almodóvar, Elena Anaya, Pedro Almodóvar, Marisa Paredes, Pedro Almodóvar, Antonio Banderas working with Pedro Almodóvar.
In Spite of: Horror films scare me.


martes, 22 de marzo de 2011

The Noah Castle Film Awards (Epilogue)


The Noecitos have been handed for the first time!! That might look like nothing but it is actually a big deal to me. I think it is a great way to celebrate love for the movies. But there is a sad part and that not every movie can make the cut so I wanted to dedicate the epilogue to the 49 films that were in no way represented in the NCFAs. For math's sake I'll say that a total of 46 films were somehow mentioned during this year's festivities so that means that I've watched so far 95 eligible films.
Of course, the lack of these 49 films cannot be attributed to a single factor. Some had a lot of competence and some were just awful. So here they come: the forgotten ones!

The really good ones (a.k.a.  The "I can't believe they were not mentioned!")

Exit through the Gift Shop by Banksy
María y Yo by Félix Fernández de Castro
Toy Story 3 by Lee Unkrich


The good ones

Balada Triste de Trompeta  by Álex de la Iglesia
Bicicleta Cullera Poma by Carles Bosch
Bon Appétit by David Pinillos
Film Socialisme by Jean-Luc Godard (under the category WTF?)
Incendies by Denis Villeneuve 
The King's Speech by Tom Hooper
Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
El Mal Ajeno by Oskar Santos
Mistérios de Lisboa by Raoul Ruiz
Pa Negre  by Agustí Villaronga
Rabia by Sebastián Cordero
Shutter Island by Martin Scorsese
Todo lo que tú quieras by Achero Mañas

The ones between good and O.K.

Going the Distance by Nannette Burstein
Harry Potter 7.1 by David Yates
La Isla Interior by Dunia Ayaso and Félix Sabroso
Knight and Day by James Mangold
Leap Year by Anand Tucker
London River by Rachid Bouchareb
Machete by Robert Rodríguez
La Mosquitera by Agustí Vila
Mr. Nobody by Jaco Van Dormael
Prince of Persia by Mike Newell
The Runaways by Flora Sigismondi
The Switch by Josh Gordon and Will Speck
True Grit by Joel and Ethan Coen

The O.K. ones

Centurion by Neil Marshall
Contracorriente by Javier Fuentes-León
Una Hora Más en Canarias by David Serrano
I Love You, Philip Morris by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
Iron Man 2 by Jon Favreau
Lope by Andrucha Waddington
Mother and Child by Rodrigo García
Tron: Legacy by Joseph Kosinski
Valentine's Day by Garry Marshall
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger by Woody Allen


The bad ones

Cyrus by Jay and Mark Duplass
Date Night by Shwan Levy
Herois by Pau Freixas
The Tourist by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck


The awfulness made film

Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton
Clash of the Titans by Louis Leterrier
Dear John by Lasse Hallström
Estació de l'Oblit by Christian Molina and Sandra Serna
The Last Airbender by M. Night Shyamalan (my pick for worst film of the year)
Robin Hood by Ridley Scott

END OF THE NCFA 2010!


lunes, 21 de marzo de 2011

The Noah Castle Film Awards (Part V: The Winners)

Finally, almost a month after the Oscars, I'm handing out my metaphorical trophies, the Noecitos! It's been so hard to choose even semi-cheating as I've done but I think it's an easy guess to say which are my two favorite films of the year...

Best Ensemble: The Social Network



Breakthrough Actor: Miles Teller in Rabbit Hole


Breakthrough Actress: Mila Kunis in Black Swan


Best Supporting Actor: Andrew Garfield in The Social Network



Best Supporting Actress: Mila Kunis in Black Swan


Best Leading Actor: Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network


Best Leading Actress: Natalie Portman in Black Swan


Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network




Best Original Screenplay: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin for Black Swan




Best Director: Ex Aequo 
Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan and David Fincher for The Social Network






Best Picture: Black Swan


sábado, 19 de marzo de 2011

The Noah Castle Film Awards (Part IV: The Acting Nominations)

If you want to, you can already see the nominations for my acting awards!! There is no commentary this time because I start writing and it is ok for a while but before I notice it, I'm writing commonplaces such as "she really embodies the character" or "she is the character" or "she really knows how to eat cheese" etc... So, no commentary! And besides, this is more Oscary-like, something I'm REALLY concerned about and that is why I'm using this post to do something that the AMPAS does... Choosing runner-ups!! (CHEAT FACTOR: Every category was supposed to have 5 runner-ups. Best Actress has 6. Deal with it! Since we are on the topic of cheating I should warn you that the breakthrough nominees are numerous in the case of the boys and very numerous in the case of the ladies...)

Runner-ups for Best Supporting Actor

Pierce Brosnan as Adam Lang in The Ghost Writer
Andrew Garfield as Tommy in Never Let Me Go
Rhys Ifans as Ivan Schrank in Greenberg


Richard Jenkins as The Father in Let Me In

Michael Lonsdale as Luc in Of Gods and Men




Runner-ups for Best Supporting Actress


Marion Cotillard as Mal in Inception

Shirley Henderson as Joy in Life During Wartime

Melissa Leo as Alice Ward in The Fighter

Jacki Weaver as Smurf in Animal Kingdom
Olivia Williams as Ruth Lang in The Ghost Writer



Runner-ups for Best Actor

Javier Bardem as Uxbal in Beautiful


Jim Broadbent as Tom in Another Year

James Franco as Aaron Rolston in 127 Hours

Ben Stiller as Roger Greenberg in Greenberg
Mark Wahlberg as Micky Ward in The Fighter



Runner-ups for Best Actress

Annette Bening as Nic in The Kids Are All Right

Juliette Binoche as Elle/She in Copie Conforme

Greta Gerwig as Florence in Greenberg
Yoon Jeong-hee as Mija in Poetry
Tilda Swinton as Emma Recchi in I Am Love

Natasha Yarovenko as Natasha in Room in Rome 

COMING SOON: The Winners!!