Hail, zombies!
This week, your local Cineplex offers two films of very different genres. We have a black comedy about classic Hollywood and a post-apocalyptic variation on a literary classic, neither of which was screened in time for WCT deadlines.
At this point in their career—with an unusually strong track record of more than 15 critically hailed, commercially successful movies—any new film from the Coen Brothers is worth seeing. And the advance word on Hail, Caesar!—which finds the Coens bringing back together many of their favorite actors—is promising, indeed.
George Clooney, making his fourth outing with the Coens, stars as a drunken, dimwitted action star who is kidnapped by a mysterious group called The Future. This being Hollywood in the 1950s—which looks to have been exactingly crafted from the previews—Clooney's studio calls on its chief "fixer," Eddie Mannix ( Josh Brolin ), to handle the situation. In the days when it was possible to cover up the private lives and various peccadillos of movie stars, the studios employed these self-described fixers to handle the often outrageous ( and sometimes criminal ) behavior of their stars and to keep the press and public in the dark. Brolin plays a fictionalized version of Mannix—a real-life executive known within the industry as the king of the fixers for his studio, MGM. Scarlett Johansson, Chaning Tatum, Jonah Hill, Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand co-star in what looks to be a spot-on black comedy, suggesting a cross between the Coens' Hudsucker Proxy and Burn After Reading.
From the silly we go to the sillier: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Adapted from the bestselling novel by Seth Grahame-Smith by director Burr Gore Steers ( nephew of Gore Vidal ), the movie is a comedic horror parody, combining Jane Austen's 1813 classic romance novel with familiar zombie movie tropes. After a plague strikes mankind, turning the dead into flesh-eating zombies, it's up to spunky heroine ( and martial-arts master ) Elizabeth Bennett ( Lily James ); her heartthrob, Mr. Darcy ( Sam Riley ); and company ( Jack Huston, Lena Headey, Matt Smith, et al ) to fight back. This kind of material requires a deft touch that Steers' previous okay-but-not-great movies ( such as Charlie St. Cloud, 17 Again and Igby Goes Down ) haven't exactly suggested. Regardless, this hopefully will be a lot more fun than Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, a similar film cross-pollination that landed with a thud, pleasing neither audiences nor critics.
New queer cinema pioneer Tom Kalin in town
Out writer-director Tom Kalin—whose 1992 film Swoon was an integral part of the New Queer Cinema movement of the early '90s ( along with Todd Haynes' Poison, Rose Troche's Go Fish, Gregg Araki's The Living End and others )—will be back in Chicago in early February. Kalin will be returning to his alma mater, the School of the Art Institute ( he graduated with an MFA in 1987 ) to speak at its Living Artist Program lecture series at the Art Institute of Chicago, 230 S. Columbus Drive, on Wed., Feb. 10, at 6 p,m.
The program is free and open to the public. After Swoon, a retelling of the infamous Leopold-Loeb murder case that focused heavily on the homosexuality of the killers, Kalin went on to make a series of queer-tinged short and experimental films as well as 2007's Savage Grace, a recounting of the Baekeland murder case starring Julianne Moore as social climber Barbara Baekeland; Eddie Redmayne as her gay, schizophrenic son; and Hugh Dancy as art dealer Samuel Adams Green, their joint lover ( a characterization Green disputed ). http://www.saic.edu/vap/
Queer-themed movies for everyone!
A batch of films that played LGBTQ film festivals last year—including Reeling—are heading to home and digital release in the next few weeks. These include the dramedy Grandma, with its galvanizing lead performance from Lily Tomlin ( who should have been nominated for an Oscar ) as a lesbian poet determined to raise the money so her granddaughter can get an abortion.
There's also Freeheld, with Julianne Moore and out actor Ellen page as a lesbian couple fighting to get pension rights when Moore's character is diagnosed with stage our cancer. Moore—a one-time Oscar frontrunner for her searing performance—and Page are deeply moving in this character drama penned by out screenwriter Ron Nyswaner. The Oscar-winning 2005 short of the same name is included as one of the DVD's special features. Both are available Feb. 9.
Not quite as high-profile but just as compelling are a trio of queer-themed films from Wolfe Releasing. Naz & Maalik is the story of two closeted gay Muslim teens trying to hide their budding romance at the same time they are wrongly being targeted by the FBI for suspected terrorist activities.
On the eve of the draft lottery in Thailand, Oat recalls trying to convince his older gay brother to use the influence of his boyfriend's well-connected family to prevent his being called up. That's the premise for How to Win at Checkers ( Every Time ), a winning drama that was Thailand's official entry for the Oscar's foreign film category. Finally, from Canada, Portrait of a Serial Monogamist is a playful romantic comedy about an aging lesbian who loves to play the field but doesn't love to settle down for long until she realizes that her last love might have been The One.
Last, but far from least, is The New Girlfriend, the latest from French queer auteur Francois Ozon ( Swimming Pool, Under the Sand, 8 Women, Time to Leave ). Ozon's movie is a winning, wry black comedy that, in typical Ozon fashion, plays with gender boundaries—this time making it the theme of the film. One day the female friend of a young widower is surprised to find that the widower likes dressing in drag and, with her help, hopes to delve deeper into this unexplored area of his life. It's a gender dramedy that defies expectations.
Upcoming movie calendar
—The Choice ( Feb. 5 )—Yet another big-screen adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks Southern-fried romance blockbuster, this one is about two neighbors ( hunky Benjamin Walker and shapely Teresa Palmer ) living in a small coastal town.
—Hail, Caesar! ( Feb. 5 )—See details above.
—Pride and Prejudice and Zombies ( Feb. 5 )—See details above.
—MOST ANTICIPATED: Deadpool ( Feb. 12 )—Yet another superhero from the Marvel Comics universe comes to the big screen in this big-budget action blockbuster. The difference this time out is that said superhero, played by hunky Ryan Reynolds, is openly, proudly pansexual—and is more of an antihero.
—How to Be Single ( Feb. 12 )—A dating comedy is told from the female point of view ( well, allegedly… ) with Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson and Alison Brie as three single ladies "sleeping around in the city that never sleeps" in pursuit of lasting love. It's with Leslie Mann and Lily Collins as well as former Downton Abbey heartthrob Dan Stevens and uber hunk/model Nick Bateman as two of their quests.
—RECOMMENDED: Where to Invade Next ( Feb. 12 )—In his latest documentary, Michael Moore "invades" a series of countries—Italy, Iceland, France, Germany, etc.—in order to "claim" various social policies ( paid vacations for all, gun control, no drug laws, equal opportunities and pay for women among them ) from said countries for the United States. Although it's decidedly on the thin side when stacked up next to Moore's more hard-hitting films, this lighter side of Moore still has its eye-opening moments, and the rage and injustice underneath the jokey tone is no less palpable.
